Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Matthew 25:40: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Acts 20:35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

During World War II, the American people, on the home front, did a number of things to help the war effort. 

American service personnel, women and men, were fighting in Europe and Asia against bona-fide fascism and totalitarianism, not the types that Donald Trump ignorantly throws around in his weaves.

They were fighting not out of self-interest but, arguably, to quote the writers of Superman, “Truth, justice and the American way.”

The American way consists of doing things for others even if it is inconvenient.

So the American people on the home front faced rationed amounts of things like meat, sugar, butter, and milk. Gasoline was in limited availability. People planted Victory Gardens and conducted scrap drives.

All of these things — from the battle field to the backyard gardens — were done because it was the right thing to do.

The Bible tells us that we should do things for other people even if it is not going to benefit us personally.

Arguably, when we did that, like during World War II, that was when America was great.

But now, it is anything but, red hats notwithstanding, and it goes straight to what is being revealed in a reported contract that was drafted by the U.S. government and presented to Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the British publication The Telegraph, the contract covers “mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports, and other infrastructure.” And in that arena, the U.S. gets 50% of all recurring revenues from those things as well as 50% of the value of “all new licenses issued to third parties.”

What does this mean?

That because the American people have supported the people of Ukraine against the Russian aggressors through military, humanitarian and financial aid, now, according to Trump, we get that money back from them.

You know, just like mercenaries.

Here is a country that has been, and continues to be, bombed. A country with homes, offices, streets, infrastructure, and more rubble, a country that will have to undergo a massive rebuilding, but we want a piece of their treasure. 

As Trump said on Fox, “They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back.”

“But I want this money back.”

We should be ashamed of ourselves for being led by a man who shills Bibles but apparently hasn’t read one.

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*Let’s not forget that Vladimir Putin has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court because of the deportation and transfer of children from their homes in Ukraine: say what you will about the ICC, but these are children taken from their homes, which would have once been considered a moral outrage but now, apparently in Washington, is met with a shrug.