Did Trump unplug Starshield because Putin asked him to?
Who does the White House saboteur serve? Plus: Ask Me Anything.
I think we are seeing the makings of another impeachment scenario involving Ukraine. The last one (which, as you know, was Donald Trump's first of two) was about him asking that country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to help him cheat to defeat Joe Biden. If there is another, it may concentrate on Trump's interference of Ukraine's sovereign right to exist.
Namely, that it looks like he sabotaged Zelenskyy's war of survival.
On Wednesday, Russia attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure during what was supposed to have been a ceasefire arrangement. In a barrage including 39 ballistic missiles, the highest number in one attack since the 2022 invasion, the Times reported "some 600,000 people in Kyiv lost power, renewing concerns about access to heat during the upcoming winter."
On the same night, Ukraine's defense ministry reported it lost access to Starshield, which is a military variant of Starlink, a vital asset in combat communications. As of Wednesday, the Times said, "the disruption has not been explained. But the network ... is paid for by the Pentagon, leading Ukrainians to believe that the restrictions came from the White House."
By Thursday, it was explained. And the Ukranians appear to have been right. Two US officials and a "Western official" told Reuters "the order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House."
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All this is happening in the context of diesel.
Russia finances the war by selling diesel, so Ukraine has been destroying its capacity to refine it. That has reduced the global supply, which has increased the price – and the price of everything else along with it. In turn, that has put pressure on Trump and the GOP.
They are facing voters enraged by the extortionate cost of living. As a "harcore Republican" in Georgia told MS Now: "Out of any president I’ve ever lived under, I've hurt more under Trump than any other president. Fuel prices, beef prices. I mean, he’s cutting our throats."
Most of Trump's trouble stems from his illegal war against Iran, and Iran's decision to react by throttling the Strait of Hormuz. But as Rory Johnston explained, Ukraine's strikes are definitely affecting diesel prices. "Russia is normally the world's second largest diesel exporter, shipping around 1 million barrels per day," the commodities researcher said.
"Today, they're barely above 100,000 barrels per day. That loss of Russian diesel has absolutely helped drive diesel prices to their current near-all-time-highs."
Trump seemed to act decisively last week. The AP said he announced that Russia will supply "more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons 'immediately thereafter.' Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons."
As impressive as it sounds, 4.8 million tons of diesel is about nine days of supply in America. It will not make a dent. So why did Trump lift restrictions in place for six years? We didn't get anything. Neither did Ukraine. According to the Times, Russia didn't concede anything.
Which brings me back to sabotage.
Did someone in the White House pull the plug on Starshield/Starlink on the same night Russia launched more ballistic missiles at Ukraine than it had before? Did that person, or persons, work in coordination for anyone? And what was their goal? And for whom did they do it? Sabotaging Ukraine serves neither Ukraine's interests nor the interests of the United States, as vast majorities of Americans still prefer to live in a world in which nations have sovereignty and can't be consumed by neighboring nations ruled by fools and degenerates.
Was it done merely because Vladimir Putin asked?
We deserve to know.
So yes, I think we are seeing the makings of another impeachment scenario involving Ukraine. I mean, there are a billion reasons to impeach Trump, but this one is a big one, as it's part of America's global role. In the context of an affordability crisis, it might be a story about how the president was so incompetent, so corrupt, so broken that he made enemies of everyone, including "hardcore Republicans." In the end, all he had left was his friend, Putin.
And he didn't have even that.
Ask Me Anything: October 16, 2026
I asked you to ask me anything. Here are some questions I got. If you want to ask me something for next week's Ask Me Anything, leave a comment below or send a reply.
@7719deftones.bsky.social asks:
What are your thoughts on what happens if Democrats win the House and Senate from November to January 4?
My answer:
You're talking about the gap between Election Day and when the new Congress is seated. No one knows. No one can. Trump is too volatile. He's demented and drunk on power, and desperate to stop the center of political gravity moving away from him. He says he can do anything he wants in ways that are real and aspirational. He says he can pardon himself, which is technically true if no one challenges the assertion. He often "jokes" about running for a third term but also seems to know he has less time on this earth than ever before.
I think we all know the president is in a downward spiral, politically and mentally. Therefore, we should all be afraid of the likelihood of short-term damage, but also hopeful. From the ashes will arise possibilities. The worse he gets, the better it will be for the Democrats. They might – might – capitalize on newfound gains by enacting serious institutional reforms so we never see another Donald Trump in our lifetimes, reforms like adding states, expanding the Supreme Court, expanding the House of Representatives, revitalizing the Voting Rights Act.
The main thing is Trump will not accept the outcome of the elections. Don't be shocked. We're all beyond shock. The question will be how sympathetic the public will be to his lies. My guess is there will be practically zero sympathy. Because of that, his lies could backfire, depending on how grotesque they are, depending on whether they inspire violence, forcing the Republicans who did not get ousted to run for cover. I am not optimistic, but I am being real. The politics of democracy doesn't stop, no matter how much Trump would like it to.
Keith Connolly asks:
Should the rest of us around the world have faith in the American electorate and the American judiciary considering what happened in 2024 and the litany of crimes committed since then by the Trump regime?
My answer:
The rest of the world is right to doubt the American electorate, given that we traded the rule of law and the Constitution for an IOU. In a real sense, my country has descended into barbarism. Trump authorized (but since rescinded) an execution by firing squad to be livestreamed. Measles is breaking out again. Taxpayers are paying for ads that present the president as if he were a god who gilds everything he can, dreams of gilding things he can't.
My country has also shown itself to be weaker than anyone expected. We went to war with a minor power and lost. Iran is strangling us economically and he ... just lets it happen without taking any responsibility. Meanwhile, he acts like a child. This weekend will be a massive No Kings protest. He will probably post another AI-generated video of himself in a crown flying a fighting jet, dropping poop on Americans. (Yes, that really happened.)
Outsiders ask themselves how we could have elected Trump, but outsiders often believe American propaganda, especially the propaganda about Americans. Truth is, we are just another people, no better, no worse. Our main distinction is probably our predilection for whiteness. While our two major political parties are not the same, they are still oriented around it, as whiteness is still seen as the true, legitimate source of power in America. That Trump was elected twice, despite all his vice and villainy, is shocking but not surprising.
The electorate is probably going to react badly to Trump's failure in the coming elections. We are telling ourselves it's because he broke his promise. But truth is, he kept it. He restored whiteness. Problem is whiteness always backfires economically. Every time. It cannot be what Trump voters want it to be. They won't change their minds, though. They're just going to get mad. The Republicans will suffer for it. That's the best we can hope for right now.
In all likelihood, a Democrat will be elected president in two years. If he or she merely fixes what Trump has broken, I would recommend outsiders abandon faith in America. However, if that new Democratic administration rams through institutional reforms – like adding states to the union – I think that would be a reasonable beginning for a restoration of faith.
