OPINION: Russian rewards wrapped in president’s promises

Published 3:30 pm Saturday, October 24, 2026

In “The Manchurian Candidate,” the enemy hides behind an American patriot’s face; in Donald Trump’s presidency, he hides behind the promise to make America great again.

The 1962 thriller film builds its nightmare around a man presented to Americans as a patriot while serving a hostile power’s designs. His admirers see someone to trust, someone to defend, someone to elevate.

The danger does not announce itself as foreign. It arrives with American credentials and people willing to mistake allegiance to a man for loyalty to their country.

For much of the past seven decades, confronting Soviet power and later Russian aggression united American presidents, Congress, and both parties. Republicans once made resistance to Moscow a defining principle.

There were periods of cooperation after the Cold War. But Putin’s invasions restored the central question: Would America resist aggression or reward it?

Congress has repeatedly answered with bipartisan support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

Trump keeps answering with concessions to Moscow.

He promises strength, rewards aggression, and leaves Ukraine to absorb the consequences. That is the Manchurian nightmare: patriotic promises concealing a presidency whose choices serve the adversary.

In July 2016, Trump publicly appealed to Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.

In July 2018, standing beside Putin in Helsinki, Trump publicly questioned American intelligence findings about Russian interference. Putin denied responsibility; Trump said he saw no reason why Russia would have done it.

The American president lent his credibility to the Russian denial against our own Intelligence community.

Robert Mueller’s 2019 report documented Russian interference as ‘sweeping and systematic.’ It did not establish campaign conspiracy or coordination with Russia; that did not erase the interference.

In April 2025, Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on allies and trading partners but excluded Russia from his reciprocal-tariff list. His administration cited existing sanctions and limited trade.

Countries standing beside America faced new punishment. The country invading Ukraine escaped that additional pressure.

On Aug. 15, 2025, Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska on a red carpet. Their summit produced no agreement ending Russia’s war. Putin received the spectacle of acceptance; Ukraine received neither peace nor an end to the invasion.

By March 2026, Zelensky was publicly accusing Russia of supplying intelligence to Iran. In April, Reuters detailed a Ukrainian assessment describing Russian satellite surveillance supporting Iranian targeting.

In July, Zelensky said Ukraine would share evidence concerning surveillance of American bases. Ukraine was warning about danger to the country whose support it needed.

On Oct. 9, Trump opened markets to Russian diesel, temporarily authorizing specified transactions, including U.S. imports.

But reopening markets offers Moscow revenue while its war continues. What Trump calls pragmatism gives Russia financial breathing room.

We are supposed to stand with the country being invaded. Trump keeps improving the position of its invader.

On Oct. 12, Trump said he did not believe Russia or China was helping Iran ‘at all,’ allowing that any help was ‘at a very low level,’ despite reported U.S. intelligence assessments.

Ukraine had sounded the alarm; Trump dismissed the danger. With American forces and lives at risk, presidential disbelief is not a defense.

By Oct. 15, reporting described restrictions on SpaceX satellite services that Ukrainian officials said impaired military operations and endangered civilians. Responsibility remained contested, with Trump and Elon Musk drawn into the dispute.

Congress must establish who authorized what. While powerful Americans trade denials, Ukrainians are left defending their country with fewer tools.

On Oct. 16, Trump waived major new sanctions and tariffs under the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, signed Sept. 18. Existing sanctions remained, key new penalties were waived before taking effect. Russia escaped additional costs; Ukraine lost leverage against its invader.

Putin gets relief, Ukraine pays the price, and Americans get excuses.

Presidential accountability does not require an espionage conviction. It requires examining whose interests a president advances, whose warnings he dismisses, and whose suffering he treats as negotiable. Tough talk cannot redeem policies that ease the aggressor’s burden while increasing the victim’s.

Trump’s actions have made one thing unmistakably clear: he is helping Russia win the war.

The nightmare of “The Manchurian Candidate” is the enemy welcomed as a patriot. Trump gives that nightmare an American face. Republicans must confront the enemy within their own leadership, not keep defending him because he wears their party’s colors.

When service to Putin comes wrapped in the promise to make America great again, Americans must look past the flag, confront the man, and let the record tear away the disguise.

Van Abbott is a 36-year resident of Alaska having worked in Ketchikan, Fairbanks and Anchorage as a municipal, financial and utility manager.