Putin Is Winning – Part 44 September 2, 2025September 2, 2025 Or however many times I’ve had to announce that sad fact. (It’s actually more than 44 times, dating back to 2017, if you count posts like this one from August 2016 where that exact phrase is not used but the point is much the same.) Yesterday was another big win for Putin, as he and Modi held hands and huddled with Xi. I posted this a couple of weeks ago . . . Fareed Zakariah: Alienating India is Trump’s greatest foreign policy mistake thus far. . . . and had been planning to post this from the Economist today . . . For America to alienate India is a colossal mistake. . . . but yesterday’s news beat me to it. We are driving our long-time ally and hoped-for China-counterbalance into the arms of Russia. With an economy smaller than that of Texas — but nukes and ruthless determination — Putin, the judo master, is winning. So just to recap: > The self-proclaimed “king of debt” took six businesses into bankruptcy and is now bankrupting the United States, needlessly adding trillions to our debt by extending tax cuts to the top 1% and corporations who don’t need them. “I’m great with debt,” he says. “Nobody knows debt better than me. I’ve made a fortune by using debt, and if things don’t work out, I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that’s a smart thing, not a stupid thing.” Failing to keep your promises to creditors may be a smart thing in business, but in the world of government bonds it’s called “default,” even the hint of which has weakened faith in the dollar. As has his meddling with the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump could well destroy the incredible advantage we get from the dollar being the world’s reserve currency. A win for Putin. > He has taken an economy that was the envy of the world (its all too real affordability crisis notwithstanding) and poised it for the very real possibility of stagflation . . . all the while working to increase the already massive inequality typical of authoritarian regimes where a favored few enjoy incredible luxury while the masses struggle. A win for Putin. > He has alienated our traditional democratic allies and embraced — even written “love letters” to — our traditional (autocratic) adversaries . . . tossing aside the good will and “soft power” we had spent less than 1% of our GDP to accumulate around the world, ceding much of it to China and Russia. A win for Putin. > He has assaulted civility, shattered norms, and weakened institutions throughout government, academia, our health care system, and the press. A win for Putin. > He has polarized the nation more bitterly than at any time since the Civil War . . . with considerable help from Russian bots and psy-ops. A win for Putin. > He has made a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and destabilized the labor market by killing last year’s tough but humane bipartisan immigration reform in favor of unidentified masked agents terrorizing decent people and, in some cases, depriving them of their Constitutional rights. A win for Putin. > He has dialed back our support for Ukraine. A huge win for Putin. Most of us grew up believing that the bad guy — be he a dictator or a bully — shouldn’t win. And yet, with the acquiescence of the Republican House and Senate, he (meaning either Putin or Trump, take your pick) clearly is. Join Indivisible. Check out Braver Angels. Support the opposition. (No, it’s not everything we want and certainly not sufficient. But a well-funded opposition party is an absolutely necessary condition to our saving democracy — don’t you think?)