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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024

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What Trump can do is make a not-very-credible threat that he will withhold all aid and watch the Ukrainians die even if they die by the hundreds of thousands...

Don Junior posts memes about Zelensky having his allowance yanked.

I, too, find people other than Trump sharing memes to be very credible insights into Trump's intentions.

Remember that time Trump shared the CNN-wrestling GIF, which foreshadowed the campaign of amateur wrestling stunts at the expense of journalists?

Junior has been pretty involved in things lately. But if you want to be sarcastic about it, fine, I'm sure Trump will rush to sign off on another fifty billion dollar care package after campaigning on what a waste it all is. After all, he wouldn't want the Democrats or some Euro leaders to be miffed at him.

I can be serious and I can be silly, and tend to retort in kind. Arguing a shared memes on the part of Trump Jr. are meaningfully demonstrative of Trump's viewpoint is silly. Noting that the Trump selectees for Trump's cabinet are Ukraine skeptics is serious... but so is noting that many of Trump's selectees are pro-Ukraine, which undercuts the credibility of a hardline anti-Ukraine position.

If Trump is supposed to have strong opinions on the Ukraine war, he certainly isn't manning his administration to reflect that, as the adage 'personnel are policy' applies here. Trump Jr. is a person of interest in the Trump administration, but he is far from the only person, and we can just selectively choose quotes whichever way we want.