Having critically wounded what little was left of the Reagan revolution, today he administered the coup de grace. Soon Ronna McDaniel will add “It’s bad that the Soviet Union collapsed” to the 2020 GOP platform.

Trump: "Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan. Russia." Trump then goes on to endorse the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Via Fox. pic.twitter.com/oE0fuDLXyz — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 2, 2019

I wonder which very reliable populist news source informed him that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a defensive measure against invading terrorists rather than Moscow’s attempt to reinstate communist rule in Kabul. Silver lining for the White House: It’s harder for critics to accuse him of being an apologist for fascism when he’s being an apologist for communism.

Even liberals are dunking on him for it:

I’m extremely excited for when Trump refers to Stalin as Papa Joe and MAGA Twitter goes full tankie. — Jane Coaston (@cjane87) January 2, 2019

“[P]retty amazing this guy’s biggest fans are the people who see commies lurking behind every lamppost trying to implement incremental communism,” said another Twitter pal. Yeah, cultural Marxism = bad, actual Marxism = kinda depends. I don’t think Trump would see a contradiction in those stances, though. If the commies want to run wild in the eastern hemisphere, or the southern hemisphere — or anywhere except America, really — let ’em, he’d say. He has no moral qualms about autocracy and no birdseye view of American strategic interests. If anything, I think he’d like having Moscow in charge everywhere outside U.S. borders since it would “stabilize” things and it’s easier to manage one relationship than it is one hundred. It’s not hard to invent reasons to retroactively justify Soviet expansionism if that’s how you feel. Especially if you can point to 9/11 and say “This wouldn’t have happened if I’d had my way,” ignoring all the other terrible things that might have happened if the USSR had slogged on for another 30 years.

Now we sit and wait for the inevitable Mitt Romney comment laying into him for more Russian apologetics. While we do, let me say that I’d happily watch a 12-hour episode of “Drunk History” in which Trump explains the past 50 years in foreign affairs. He’d be stone-cold sober, though. I’m the one who’d be drunk.

This was a lively photo op at the White House today, by the way. Here he is taking a shot at his now former defense secretary:

Trump says he "essentially" fired Jim Mattis. He did not. Mattis resigned due to policy differences. Trump also says of Mattis: What's he done for me? How has he done in Afghanistan? Not too good. Not too good. I'm not happy with what he's done in Afghanistan." Via Fox. pic.twitter.com/TG5N34E7gO — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 2, 2019

The chatterati is aghast at POTUS swiping at Mattis. They don’t like seeing a man who served his country bravely and honorably for decades attacked by a character like Trump; they worry that the last “adult in the room” is gone, soon to be replaced by Judge Jeanine or whoever; and they see a dangerous trend in Trump “impugning the character and competence of senior U.S. military leaders purely for political reasons.” And this *is* political at its core. Trump’s criticism of Mattis focuses on his handling of Afghanistan but it’s impossible to believe that that criticism would have been offered had Mattis not made his differences with Trump’s worldview clear in his resignation letter. That embarrassed POTUS. So here’s his payback.