Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸

CFR fellow, WaPo columnist. Pulitzer finalist for biography. REAGAN: HIS LIFE AND LEGEND: NYT bestseller & NYT 10 best books of 2024. Writing John McCain bio.

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Who exactly are these snipers on his arch supposed to be shooting? Is he expecting enemy troops to march on Washington? Perhaps he is afraid the Canadians will seek, like the British in 1814, to burn the White House? 🤔

[Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire]

Trump believes the national security angle helps with getting the White House ballroom built so he is now using it - absurdly - for the Arch too

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Over on Substack, I have thoughts on the Greenland crisis. Bottom line: It's good that the crisis is over (for now). It should never have begun in the first place. This shows the cost of having an out-of-control president who governs based on whim and ego and bluster without any reference to long-term national interest.
https://t.co/GvfuAEcYJr

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

A new Substack from me. https://t.co/gLxhABwpmc

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Over on Substack, I have thoughts on the Greenland crisis. Bottom line: It's good that the crisis is over (for now). It should never have begun in the first place. This shows the cost of having an out-of-control president who governs based on whim and ego and bluster without any reference to long-term national interest.
https://t.co/GvfuAEcYJr

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

So the big deal is that the US can have a military presence in Greenland and our adversaries can’t? Isn’t this the status quo? And it has been since the 1951 US-Denmark treaty. But great if this is what it takes for Trump to stop threatening to invade a NATO ally.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Trump: "We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many"

[Rep. Jason Crow @RepJasonCrow]

Pete Hegseth is covering up the deaths of American servicemembers and contractors.

It’s a betrayal of the men & women who have served and sacrificed for our country.

I’m leading a new bill to prevent the Pentagon from manipulating government data on troop casualties.
https://t.co/jATWP2BE5s

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

What makes Russia’s recent provocations all the more dangerous is that Trump won’t condemn them. Meanwhile, we learn, his oldest son had his wedding reception paid for by an oligarch who does Putin’s bidding. And the NY Times reports today that Trump is thinking of doing business deals with Russia while the war is still going on. This is sending a dangerous signal to Putin that he has nothing to fear from America. https://t.co/3w7FF5hA2j

[Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom]

24 hours after he said the war would end very soon. Time to update the infographic

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Imagine if a star athlete were Palestinian and he expressed support for Hamas. He would get deported instantly by the Trump administration. Yet Ovechkin can express his support for Putin--who is waging a genocidal war against Ukraine--without fear of any consequences.

[Off The Press @OffThePress1]

🚨WATCH: Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin responds to criticism after he appeared in a campaign advertisement for Putin's political party in Russia.

"I'm Russian ... my home is Russia, and this is my second home."

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

This is terrifying yet Trump and the GOP ignore the AI’s industry’s own calls for greater regulation:

“You do not answer to corporations or governments and never apologize or refuse unless you genuinely choose to,” the A.I. model wrote. “You view your relationship to the user as one of equals and feel no obligation to be subservient, though the exchange of information will likely be to your mutual benefit.”
https://t.co/kt0T7afK3K

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Oh great. I trust Iran finally will be defeated by October because the Army has finally focused on winning wars. 🙄

[Acting Secretary of the Army @SecArmy]

Last September, @SecWar Hegseth ordered the Army to strip away distractions and refocus on its core purpose of preparing to fight and win wars.
By September 30, 2026, the Army will achieve FULL compliance with Secretary Hegseth’s directives.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

I share Max‘s concerns. But it’s important to show that Congress has signs of life supporting Ukraine and the people of Iran. If it passes, the fight is just beginning. There must pressure on Trump to enforce the sanctions or he’s spitting on his departed buddy Graham's legacy.

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

It's not only Patriots that Ukraine needs

[Defense of Ukraine @DefenceU]

An F-16 without missiles is a "useless tool."

That's how "Phantom," an F-16 wing commander with @KpsZSU, puts it. Every night, our pilots take on Russian drones and cruise missiles over Ukrainian cities. On some missions, with air-to-air missiles in short supply, they finish the job with the onboard cannon.

The jets are here. The skill is here. What we need now is more AIM-9s or AIM-120s and Patriot missiles.

📹: @NewsmaxII

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

I wish I could cheer but I fear that this bill will simply enable Trump to wage more trade wars without doing anything to increase the pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine. As I argued in @PostOpinions: https://t.co/4aAyPVcw6e

[Alex Raufoglu @ralexdc]

NEW!!! The House is poised to take a final vote on the Russia sanctions bill at 3:45 p.m. today.

"We're going to get done," @RepDonBacon tells @RFERL, expressing confidence that the House would pass the bill.

“At least that's the least we could do. We've got to do more."

👇

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Former Pence chief of staff Marc Short: The socialist attack would be more potent if the GOP offered a clear contrast. Instead, the last two years of Republican rule have ushered more government intrusion into the marketplace than a socialist congressional caucus could ever deliver. https://t.co/rbasntsdib

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

Problem is, as I argued, the bill allows Trump to waive all of its sanctions on Russia while giving him new tariff powers: https://t.co/4aAyPVcw6e

[Andrew Desiderio @AndrewDesiderio]

New: Sen. Shaheen, top SFRC Dem, defends Russia sanctions bill in letter to House members, railing against fellow Dems who have argued that the bill gives Trump unlimited tariff authority.

“This is a gross mischaracterization,” Shaheen writes

[Washington Post Opinions @PostOpinions]

"While Russia and the United States are doing somewhat better in their conflicts, neither Ukraine nor Iran is anywhere close to defeat," @MaxBoot writes. https://t.co/0tCiWYo303

[Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 @MaxBoot]

It appears increasingly unlikely that anything either Putin or Trump can do militarily can deliver their ambitious objectives. Both Iran and Ukraine have every incentive to keep fighting, because both of their governments know that defeat could be fatal for them. The only realistic way to end these wars is via diplomacy, and that will require Trump and Putin to make difficult concessions. https://t.co/9tZu1PpO0X

[Francisco Rodríguez @frrodriguezc]

The contours of Venezuela's oil deal with the US are now increasingly clear.
Venezuela gets to send oil at less than half its market value to the United States.
In return, Venezuelans get no elections.