Former President Donald Trump says the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict was fueled in part by attempts by political opponents to prevent him from taking office.
“Instead of having a better relationship with Russia as I worked to build, we now have a proxy war with Russia, fueled in part by the lingering fumes of Russiagate delirium. Ukraine has been utterly devastated. Untold numbers of people have been killed. And we could very well end up in World War III,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Newsweek op-ed published Monday.
In it, he compares the actions taken to prevent him from taking office seven years ago to what he is facing today. Mr. Trump explained how the false claims that Russian interference won him the 2016 presidential seat have had reverberating effects still felt today.
“As savage and cruel as the Russia Hoax was for me, my family, my staff, and so many innocent bystanders, the real victims were the American People,” he wrote.
“The destruction this hoax caused to America is almost incalculable. It subverted our democracy, it threatened our security, and it endangered our freedom.
“At a critical moment when we should have been reducing tensions with Russia, the Russia Hoax stoked mass hysteria that helped drive Russia straight into the arms of China,” he wrote, adding that the result is the war in Ukraine seen today.
‘There Must Be a Reckoning’
In 2016, Mr. Trump ran on a platform that challenged the establishment, and he says the establishment retaliated in full force.
“I vowed to stop mass illegal immigration, terminate globalist trade deals, end the sellout of our country to Communist China, stand up to the permanent bureaucracy and the corporate media, and break the neocon addiction to endless foreign wars,” he wrote.
“In response, an unelected cabal in the senior ranks of our government, in concert with their chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton, and their allies in the media, launched the de-facto coup attempt known as the Russia Hoax.”
