Dear President Zelensky

Everyone knows Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around

Dear President Zelensky:

What America’s barely-elected president is trying to do to Ukraine and the world order is a disgrace, and I want you to know that most Americans are horrified. Even as Trump/Musk/Putin conspire to force their naked oligarchy on the world, most of us have grandparents who remember how fascism works, and we don’t like strongmen.

As our hearts break for you, America, and every democracy now fighting for its life, millions of people have reached out to you in solemn solidarity. Democracy is under threat around the globe, and, though it took longer than it should have, the educated half of the US is finally paying attention.

We know Putin is a KGB-trained thug who disappears his critics, and that Trump admires him for it; we also know that Trump keeps declaring national emergencies to give his criminally unqualified Secretary of Defense on-the-job training. Secretary Hegseth, a Fox News airhead with white supremacy ink all over his body, needs to learn early which military commanders will go along with Trump’s second violent coup, and which ones he needs to terminate (or worse).

We also know Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around; hundreds of millions of people around the world have seen the videos and won’t be gaslit, despite Trump’s shameless lies. Please, whatever you think of Americans, do not think we are all as stupid as Trump assumes we are.

Trump has no mandate

Also, as Trump tries to demean you with Putin’s false claim that your approval rating is at 4%, keep in mind that Trump barely won. He won 49% of the vote compared to Harris’ 48%, a difference of 1%.

America’s biggest challenge isn’t MAGA, but the plurality of 90 million qualified voters who didn’t bother to vote at all in November’s election despite the stakes. American apathy has many root causes, that’s another thing on our to do list, but love of an unhinged strongman isn’t one of them.

We also have a media problem, thanks largely to Trump/Musk/Putin’s relentless efforts to flood the zone with disinformation. The right wing controlled media (Fox, OAN, Newsmax, X, and nearly 2000 right wing radio stations) runs pure Trump propaganda. That’s because, under our current legal system, corporate-owned media is not required to tell the truth. It’s not like in the UK where the law requires fairness and impartiality in reporting the news; Fox and X are more like Putin’s State TV, where corporate owners dummy down their viewers and prop up politicians for their own corporate interests. Restoring truth in the news is another thing on our to do list.

Trump’s pettiness and lust for vengeance are un-American

Like white on rice, Trump is all over you, President Zelensky. It’s not a new obsession. Did you, like France’s Macron, lock eyes with Melania and kiss her, I wonder? Trump really is that small, but in his defense, any playground bully would be aggrieved. Too many people love you, and admire your peoples’ struggle.

Your youth and good looks surely don’t help in Trump’s grievance department, and, no doubt, your 2019 refusal to manufacture “evidence” to hurt Joe Biden still chafes. Trump got caught trying to blackmail you with funds Congress had already approved, and he’s still blaming the victim, as any abuser would. His efforts this week to demand half of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, like you owe something to the mob boss because presidents before him had principles, was next level embarrassing. All I can say is I’m sorry.

Not only is he mentally unwell, he is laughably but dangerously petty. He nurses old grudges like a dementia patient and lives to hurt anyone who shows him up, and right now, tag, you’re it.

Educated America knows we are in a coup

The problem in America, as you’ve surmised by now, is that extremely wealthy men have orchestrated a coup to further enrich themselves and their greedy families.

Back when America really was a great superpower on the rise, the wealthiest industrialists paid their fair share of taxes. The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts built the nation and shared their wealth, and the nation benefitted for decades. At the apex of our rise, wealthy Americans paid effective income tax rates as high as 94%. But Republicans changed all that starting in the 1980s and insisted that deep tax cuts for the rich would trickle down. They never did.

Today, men like Elon Musk pay an effective tax rate of 3%, and his companies, like Tesla, pay almost nothing in taxes. That is why they spend so much to get Trump and other republicans elected: to keep their unjust tax cuts and write their own regulations.

Musk is end stage Citizens United

Republicans’ tax cuts to the rich morphed into selling election outcomes. In 2010, Citizens United held that the uber rich could select our national leaders by donating undisclosed millions to candidates who would do their bidding. After Musk paid $48 billion to ruin Twitter and another $300 million to get Trump elected, Republican Congressmen today are frightened, afraid to do their jobs. Musk has credibly threatened to primary any Congressman who criticizes Trump’s power grab, and when the world’s richest man aims his money at your head with the trigger cocked, you freeze.

When he ran for re-election, Trump promised $1 billion fossil fuel donors that they could ruin the environment without regulations, and here we are. We have entered the final stage of Citizens United’s oligarchic takeover, with its infectious spawns Musk, Vance and Trump at the helm.

As the world’s wealthiest men team up to impose maximum harm on the world by embracing Nazismand partnering with Putin, one of the world’s most lethal dictators, please take heart. It’s obvious violence is coming to the US, but America will sort itself out. We always do the right thing, as Churchill reportedly said, after other possibilities have been exhausted.

I close here in shared weariness in knowing there really are evil men in the world who will do anything for power and wealth. Also, in sympathy and apology, heartbroken for both our countries, but not defeated.

You may never see this, President Zelensky, but it will be published with national reach in the Chicago Tribune, Salon, Raw Story, Out South Florida, Windy City Times, MSN, Alternet, Smart News, and other publishers who put truth over profit.

I just want you, Ukrainians fighting for their freedom and their lives, and democratic forces around the world to know: Most Americans see Trump. And we see you.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25 year trial lawyer specializing in 1^st and 14^th A defense.

Uvazhayemyy prezident Zelenskiy:

To, chto yedva izbrannyy prezident Ameriki pytayetsya sdelat' s Ukrainoy i mirovym poryadkom, — eto pozor, i ya khochu, chtoby vy znali, chto bol'shinstvo amerikantsev v uzhase. Dazhe kogda Tramp/Mask/Putin sgovarivayutsya navyazat' miru svoyu goluyu oligarkhiyu, u bol'shinstva iz nas yest' babushki i dedushki, kotoryye pomnyat, kak rabotayet fashizm, i my ne lyubim sil'nykh mira sego.

Poskol'ku nashi serdtsa razryvayutsya iz-za vas, Amerika, i kazhdoy demokratii, kotoraya seychas boretsya za svoyu zhizn', milliony lyudey obratilis' k vam s torzhestvennoy solidarnost'yu. Demokratiya nakhoditsya pod ugrozoy vo vsem mire, i, khotya eto zanyalo bol'she vremeni, chem sledovalo by, obrazovannaya polovina SSHA nakonets-to obratila na eto vnimaniye.

My znayem, chto Putin — obuchennyy KGB bandit, kotoryy skryvayet svoikh kritikov, i chto Tramp voskhishchayetsya im za eto; my takzhe znayem, chto Tramp prodolzhayet ob"yavlyat' chrezvychaynyye situatsii v strane, chtoby dat' svoyemu nekvalifitsirovannomu ministru oborony vozmozhnost' proyti obucheniye na rabochem meste. Sekretar' Khegset, pustogolovyy Fox News s belymi chernilami po vsemu telu, dolzhen uznat' zaraneye, kakiye voyennyye komandiry podderzhat vtoroy nasil'stvennyy perevorot Trampa, a kakikh yemu nuzhno ustranit' (ili sdelat' chto-to pokhuzhe).

My takzhe znayem, chto Rossiya vtorglas' v Ukrainu, a ne naoborot; sotni millionov lyudey po vsemu miru videli eti video i ne budut podvergat'sya gazlaytingu, nesmotrya na besstydnuyu lozh' Trampa. Pozhaluysta, chto by vy ni dumali ob amerikantsakh, ne dumayte, chto my vse takiye glupyye, kak nas schitayet Tramp.

U Trampa net mandata 

Krome togo, poka Tramp pytayetsya unizit' vas lozhnym utverzhdeniyem Putina, chto vash reyting odobreniya sostavlyayet 4%, pomnite, chto Tramp yedva pobedil. On nabral 49% golosov po sravneniyu s 48% Kharris, raznitsa v 1%. 

Samaya bol'shaya problema Ameriki — eto ne MAGA, a mnozhestvo iz 90 millionov kvalifitsirovannykh izbirateley, kotoryye voobshche ne udosuzhilis' progolosovat' na noyabr'skikh vyborakh, nesmotrya na stavki. Amerikanskaya apatiya imeyet mnogo korennykh prichin, eto yeshche odna zadacha v nashem spiske del, no lyubov' k neuravnoveshennomu sil'nomu lideru ne vkhodit v ikh chislo. 

U nas takzhe yest' problema so SMI, vo mnogom blagodarya neustannym usiliyam Trampa/Maska/Putina zapolonit' etu zonu dezinformatsiyey. Pravyye kontroliruyemyye SMI (Fox, OAN, Newsmax, X i pochti 2000 pravykh radiostantsiy) vedut chistuyu propagandu Trampa. Eto potomu, chto v ramkakh nashey nyneshney pravovoy sistemy korporativnyye SMI ne obyazany govorit' pravdu. Eto ne pokhozhe na Velikobritaniyu, gde zakon trebuyet spravedlivosti i bespristrastnosti v osveshchenii novostey; Fox i X bol'she pokhozhi na gosudarstvennoye televideniye Putina, gde vladel'tsy korporatsiy obmanyvayut svoikh zriteley i podderzhivayut politikov v svoikh korporativnykh interesakh. Vosstanovleniye pravdy v novostyakh — yeshche odna zadacha v nashem spiske del.

Melochnost' Trampa i yego zhazhda mesti ne svoystvenny Amerike

Tramp, kak belyy ris, ves' v vas, prezident Zelenskiy. Eto ne novaya oderzhimost'. Interesno, vy, kak frantsuzskiy Makron, stsepilis' glazami s Melaniyey i potselovali yeye? Tramp deystvitel'no takoy malen'kiy, no v yego zashchitu mozhno skazat', chto lyuboy zadira na detskoy ploshchadke byl by oskorblen. Slishkom mnogo lyudey lyubyat vas i voskhishchayutsya bor'boy vashego naroda.

Vasha molodost' i privlekatel'naya vneshnost', bezuslovno, ne pomogayut v rabote otdela zhalob Trampa, i, bez somneniya, vash otkaz v 2019 godu sfabrikovat' «dokazatel'stva», chtoby navredit' Dzho Baydenu, vse yeshche razdrazhayet. Trampa poymali na popytke shantazhirovat' vas sredstvami, kotoryye Kongress uzhe odobril, i on vse yeshche obvinyayet zhertvu, kak i lyuboy obidchik. Yego popytki na etoy nedele potrebovat' polovinu redkozemel'nykh mineralov Ukrainy, kak budto vy chto-to dolzhny glavaryu mafii, potomu chto u prezidentov do nego byli printsipy, byli na sleduyushchem urovne pozora. Vse, chto ya mogu skazat', eto to, chto mne zhal'.

On ne tol'ko psikhicheski nezdorov, on yeshche i smekhotvorno, no i opasno melochen. On leleyet staryye obidy, kak bol'noy slaboumiyem, i zhivet, chtoby prichinit' bol' lyubomu, kto yego vydast, i pryamo seychas, teg, ty im yavlyayesh'sya.

Obrazovannaya Amerika znayet, chto my nakhodimsya v sostoyanii perevorota

Problema v Amerike, kak vy uzhe dogadalis', zaklyuchayetsya v tom, chto chrezvychayno bogatyye lyudi organizovali perevorot, chtoby yeshche bol'she obogatit' sebya i svoi zhadnyye sem'i.

Kogda Amerika deystvitel'no byla velikoy sverkhderzhavoy na pod"yeme, samyye bogatyye promyshlenniki platili svoyu spravedlivuyu dolyu nalogov. Rokfellery i Vanderbil'ty postroili stranu i delilis' svoim bogatstvom, i strana pol'zovalas' etim na protyazhenii desyatiletiy. Na pike nashego pod"yema bogatyye amerikantsy platili effektivnyye stavki podokhodnogo naloga do 94%. No respublikantsy izmenili vse eto, nachinaya s 1980-kh godov, i nastaivali na tom, chto glubokiye nalogovyye l'goty dlya bogatykh budut prosachivat'sya vniz. Oni tak i ne sdelali etogo.

Segodnya takiye lyudi, kak Ilon Mask, platyat effektivnuyu nalogovuyu stavku v razmere 3%, a yego kompanii, takiye kak Tesla, pochti nichego ne platyat v vide nalogov. Vot pochemu oni tak mnogo tratyat na to, chtoby Tramp i drugiye respublikantsy byli izbrany: chtoby sokhranit' svoi nespravedlivyye nalogovyye l'goty i napisat' svoi sobstvennyye pravila.

Mask — konechnaya stadiya Citizens United

Respublikanskiye nalogovyye l'goty dlya bogatykh prevratilis' v prodazhu rezul'tatov vyborov. V 2010 godu Citizens United utverzhdali, chto sverkhbogatyye mogut vybirat' nashikh natsional'nykh liderov, zhertvuya neraskrytyye milliony kandidatam, kotoryye budut vypolnyat' ikh prikazy. Posle togo, kak Mask zaplatil 48 milliardov dollarov, chtoby razrushit' Twitter, i yeshche 300 millionov dollarov, chtoby izbrat' Trampa, segodnyashniye kongressmeny-respublikantsy napugany, boyatsya vypolnyat' svoyu rabotu. Mask ubeditel'no ugrozhal provesti pervichnuyu otsenku lyubogo kongressmena, kotoryy kritikuyet zakhvat vlasti Trampom, i kogda samyy bogatyy chelovek v mire napravlyayet svoi den'gi vam v golovu so vzvedennym kurkom, vy zamirayete. 

Kogda on ballotirovalsya na pereizbraniye, Tramp obeshchal sponsoram iskopayemogo topliva v razmere 1 milliarda dollarov, chto oni mogut razrushit' okruzhayushchuyu sredu bez regulirovaniya, i vot my zdes'. My vstupili v final'nuyu stadiyu oligarkhicheskogo zakhvata Citizens United s yego zaraznymi otpryskami Maskom, Vensom i Trampom u rulya. 

Poskol'ku samyye bogatyye lyudi mira ob"yedinyayutsya, chtoby nanesti maksimal'nyy vred miru, prinyav natsizm i vstupiv v partnerstvo s Putinym, odnim iz samykh smertonosnykh diktatorov mira, pozhaluysta, ne unyvayte. Ochevidno, chto nasiliye priblizhayetsya k SSHA, no Amerika sama razberetsya. My vsegda postupayem pravil'no, kak, kak govoryat, skazal Cherchill', posle togo, kak vse ostal'nyye vozmozhnosti byli ischerpany.

A zavershayu zdes', razdelyaya ustalost' ot osoznaniya togo, chto v mire deystvitel'no yest' zlyye lyudi, kotoryye sdelayut vse radi vlasti i bogatstva. A takzhe s sochuvstviyem i izvineniyami, ubityye gorem za obe nashi strany, no ne pobezhdennyye. 

Vy mozhete nikogda etogo ne uvidet', prezident Zelenskiy, no eto budet opublikovano s natsional'nym okhvatom v Chicago Tribune, Salon, Raw Story, Out South Florida, Windy City Times, MSN, Alternet i Smart News. 

YA prosto khochu, chtoby vy, ukraintsy, boryushchiyesya za svoyu svobodu i svoi zhizni, i demokraticheskiye sily po vsemu miru znali: bol'shinstvo amerikantsev vidyat Trampa. I my vidim vas. 

Sabrina Khaake — kolumnist i 25-letniy advokat po sudebnym delam, spetsializiruyushchiysya na zashchite po delam 1-y i 14-y stepeni.