We, the people | Tom Camfield

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So here we are in 2023 — Ukraine in a shambles as Putin sits uncaring at the head of an ill-informed and incompetent Russian military, bombarding civilian targets in Ukraine in the dead of an icy winter.

One can only wonder what the role of the U.S. would be right now if Trump had been able to lie his way into a second term as President. Would Donald honor our mutual agreements with NATO . . . with the United Nations, the European Union . . . ? Ha! I have no doubt he’d be on the lookout instead for a shortcut to glory for Donald Trump — with no time or room for honor of real meaning.

Both Putin and Trump are “singular” sorts — self absorbed. Putin seems bent on ignoring thousands of lives as he goes down in history for reconstituting the USSR, sacrificing eastern Europe in the process. Trump finds he has bitten off more of an existing democracy that he can chew in the name a capitalistic dictatorship with himself on a sort of a throne.

Meanwhile, there are realists who recognize the limits of human life and work to make the present palatable and the future promising for the everyday burgeoning mass of humankind. Our newest president, Joe Biden, is among these and already has taken steps to combat climate change — but, alas, finds much of his time swallowed by the minor assaults of his political foes.

Presented quietly without a major headline was the following brief item in the Jan. 13 Seattle Times. Biden not only praised someone else but also endorsed thereby a position on women’ s and transgender rights.

“MEMORIAL: President Joe Biden honored the late Ash Carter, the former defense secretary who opened the way for women to fight in combat and for transgender personnel to serve, ‘as a force of nature,’ at a memorial service on Thursday at Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital. ‘His genius was evident,’ Biden said. ‘His integrity unfailing, and his commitment to service before self was literally inspiring.’ Carter served under President Barack Obama from 2015 to January 2017, while Biden was vice president. ‘Ash always took harder jobs, seemingly impossible missions,’ Biden said. ’Because he believed he could make a difference. And he did make a difference.’”

MEANWHILE, in passing my 94th birthday, I surrendered briefly to advancing age (with its residual ailments) and the demands of blogging. But then I listened to President Joe Biden’s description of “the soul of America” in his speech (sermon) Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, an anniversary memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was inspiring from many standpoints and has driven me back to the computer. I expect most Americans missed it and recommend that they take a look for it on the Internet — or at least the breakdown story of the speech as carried the following day in the Seattle Times and other major newspapers.

Picture a foolish popinjay like Donald Trump in a similar time or place, uttering comments related in the least to Biden’s remarks Sunday. Donald is more inclined to rent a hall and appeal to stupidity and greed in a loud and repetitious way. And he’ll contradict on Wednesday, for instance, what he may have said on Tuesday.

Whom should we believe about what?

From the Internet: In a 2022 phone call to golfer John Daly, video appears to show former President Donald Trump saying he was friends with Vladimir Putin while in office, but claimed he threatened the Russian president with “hitting Moscow” if he attempted to cause trouble. "I said, 'We're gonna hit Moscow,'" Trump said. "And he sort of believed me, like 5 percent, 10 percent. That's all you need.” Trump continued to brag about Putin holding off on the invasion of Ukraine until he, Trump, was out of office. This isn't the first time Donald has hinted at the notion of Putin's attack on Ukraine not happening if he were still president.

Meanwhile, Trump Tower Moscow, also known as the Moscow Project, was a series of proposals by the Trump Organization to develop a Trump skyscraper in Russia. Michael Cohen testified in February 2019; Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were regularly briefed about a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump Jr. had told Congress he was only "peripherally aware of it."

(Cohen is an American former lawyer who served as an attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump from 2006 to 2018. A vice-president of the Trump Organization, he was disbarred and sentenced to prison. See Wikipedia.)