{"id":70,"date":"2025-10-22T11:40:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:44:13","slug":"when-a-leader-is-not-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70","title":{"rendered":"When a leader is not a leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I read the The Dispatch <\/a>on a daily basis. If you are a Republican who is not MAGA, or a person who is interested in unbiased (my opinion) political reporting, then you should subscribe to The Dispatch. There is a wide variety of content that challenges my thinking daily.

In an article published today entitled “It’s not too late for Trump to squeeze Putin” Eric Edelman makes this observation:

“The official Kremlin readout of the phone call <\/span>the day before Zelensky\u2019s visit to Washington reveals Putin\u2019s praise for Trump\u2019s Middle East efforts and indicates that Trump should have won the Nobel Peace Prize. He also emphasized that Russia was winning in all phases of the war in Ukraine and suggested that providing Tomahawks to Ukraine would have no military effect, while at the same time arguing that taking this step would be highly escalatory. Finally, Putin bemoaned the fact that ongoing U.S.-Russian differences over Ukraine were impeding the many benefits that would flow from an end to sanctions and the resumption of mutually beneficial economic and trade relations.\u00a0“

You are not a leader if flattery is the reason you change policies, you are a weather vane: You turn wherever the winds of flattery blow you. Our President is just that. After a September 23 meeting with Zelensky, Trump posted<\/a>, \u201cI think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe, and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.\u201d On October 17th, after the phone call, Trump said “They should stop where they are. Let both claim victory, let history decide! No more shooting, no more death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,”. Basically, Trump wants to reward Putin’s aggression with acquiescence. My guess is that there was more than flattery in the conversation that made Trump reluctant to send Tomahawk missiles. Probably some threat to Trump’s bank account or investment pullback in Russia. Who knows? The TACO man comes calling.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read the The Dispatch on a daily basis. If you are a Republican who is not MAGA, or a person who is interested in unbiased (my opinion) political reporting, then you should subscribe to The Dispatch. There is a wide variety of content that challenges my thinking daily. In an article published today entitled … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “When a leader is not a leader”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,5,11],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-politics","tag-trump","tag-ukraine"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I read the The Dispatch on a daily basis. If you are a Republican who is not MAGA, or a person who is interested in unbiased (my opinion) political reporting, then you should subscribe to The Dispatch. There is a wide variety of content that challenges my thinking daily. In an article published today entitled … Continue reading "When a leader is not a leader"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"I am the Grumpy Republican\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/P1010031.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete Helgren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pete Helgren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pete Helgren\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66\"},\"headline\":\"When a leader is not a leader\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"keywords\":[\"politics\",\"Trump\",\"Ukraine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70\",\"name\":\"Trump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?p=70#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When a leader is not a leader\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"I am the Grumpy Republican\",\"description\":\"A gnarly stump in a political desert...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66\",\"name\":\"Pete Helgren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pete Helgren\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyconservative.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican","og_description":"I read the The Dispatch on a daily basis. If you are a Republican who is not MAGA, or a person who is interested in unbiased (my opinion) political reporting, then you should subscribe to The Dispatch. There is a wide variety of content that challenges my thinking daily. In an article published today entitled … Continue reading \"When a leader is not a leader\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70","og_site_name":"I am the Grumpy Republican","article_published_time":"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2288,"height":1712,"url":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/P1010031.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Pete Helgren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pete Helgren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70"},"author":{"name":"Pete Helgren","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66"},"headline":"When a leader is not a leader","datePublished":"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70"},"wordCount":370,"keywords":["politics","Trump","Ukraine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70","url":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70","name":"Trump is a Weathervane in Shifting Political Winds - I am the Grumpy Republican","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-22T17:40:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-22T17:44:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?p=70#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When a leader is not a leader"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/","name":"I am the Grumpy Republican","description":"A gnarly stump in a political desert...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aee5624e401e9ce48636f5612ffefd66","name":"Pete Helgren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e1dfb178d0c97b9b205a627015081195d65a0769cc877490ab415ff8d03956b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pete Helgren"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.grumpyconservative.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grumpyrepublican.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}