April 24th, 2025, Vladimir, stop, wrote President Donald Trump on his social media site this morning.

Yesterday, Trump berated Ukraine President Volodemir Zelensky for rejecting a peace deal that heavily favored Russia.

Hours later, Russia launched its deadliest assault on Kiev since last July,

killing at least eight people and wounding more than 70 others.

I am not happy with the Russian strikes on Kiev.

Not necessary and very bad timing, Trump posted.

5,000 soldiers a week are dying.

Let's get the peace deal done.

Trump won the presidency by assuring his base that he was a strong leader who could impose his will on the country and the world.

Now he is bleating weakly at Putin.

Trump was the logical outcome of the myth of cowboy individualism

embraced by the Republicans since Republican Ronald Reagan rose to the White House by celebrating it.

In that myth, a true

American is a man who operates on his own outside the community. He needs nothing from the government,

works hard to support himself, protects his wife and children, and asserts his will by dominating

others. Government is his enemy, according to the myth, because it takes

his money to help undeserving freeloaders and because it regulates how he can run his business.

A society dominated by a cowboy individual is a strong one. Leaders who pushed this ideology

knew it attracted voters. Once they were in power,

they could slash government programs and cut taxes and regulations that kept wealth and opportunity

accessible to poorer Americans. They argued that a society works best if wealth and power are

concentrated among a few elites,

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