Superman fought for truth, justice and the American Way.

He’d be really confused now.

Not the truth and justice part. But the American Way has skewed off the highway and into a swamp.

That’s the grin-and-bear-it way to look at a tragedy – the betrayal of Ukraine by Trump and his henchmen. 

In his desperation to avoid a midterm election whomping, Trump reached a deal with the Devil – um, sorry, Vladimir Putin. He says the U.S. will lift its oil embargo against Russia, imposed since it invaded Ukraine four years ago. That comes with a deal to purchase enough diesel fuel to supply the United States for 12 hours.

Not months, weeks or even days. Hours.

Trump believes driving the price of diesel fuel lower will help mitigate the impact its surge has on inflation. Not that what he’s doing would actually help, but even if it did, the damage is done.

Most Americans don’t drive diesel-powered vehicles, so it’s not immediately obvious why diesel is such a big deal. Unfortunately, diesel powers those big honkin’ trucks cluttering your commute home and your leaf-peeping trip.

Imagine how big the tank is in one of those monsters. Now imagine paying $7 a gallon to fill it.

That money has got to come from somewhere. And if you’ve been to the supermarket in the last few weeks, you know where.

Four weeks ago, I bought cream cheese for my low-carb bagels. It was about $6.50 for a half-pound, which is about $1.50 more than I paid in 2024.

Two weeks ago, I bought some more. That half-pound cost me $9.

The same was true of my butter substitute and my fruit juice. $2 and $2 and $3 begin to add up – and although I’m not wealthy by any means, I’m in a slightly better position to pay that increase than a family of four struggling to get by.

So, yeah, Trump is desperate to get the price of diesel down. But he’s also desperate to bail out his old buddy, Vlad.

Trump bet on Russia. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but neither does talking about the late, great Hannibal Lecter as if he’s a real human being. Or saying Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat dogs and cats.

Russia is a failed state. It had a chance to become a center of European commerce, like Warsaw, or a center of Asian commerce, like Seoul and Shanghai. 

But Russia’s gonna be Russia – paranoid, belligerent, parochial, hateful. Putin has pulled those strings for most of the 21st century.

So bailing Putin out of an oil embargo bought into by the rest of the free world – an embargo sparked by a wide awake Joe Biden – is what Trump needs to do to protect his investment and satisfy his patron.

And, of course, in this scenario, we don’t matter.

Not just the fact that Americans overwhelmingly support Ukraine, that we overwhelmingly support President Zelenskyy, that we don’t think Russia under Putin is a potential friend and partner.

But our own freedom and pride matter not at all to Trump. Because if Ukraine, four years into a courageous fight against a bigger foe, can’t make it, it bodes ill for the rest of Europe and the West. We become shameful bystanders to the end of order.

Not just in Ukraine. Trump’s ridiculous demands in Greenland and Canada were meant to weaken the greatest military alliance in history and ease Putin’s path to dominance. The stupid war against Iran is meant to tie up American resources in the Middle East, an area where Obama and Biden wisely thought it best to disengage. The nonsense with Cuba and Venezuela is meant to underline the “zones of influence” theory that totalitarians promote.

We have always thought of ourselves as the good guys. Being respected means being admired, not being feared. When we lose the world’s respect, we’re just a bunch of spoiled brats on this side of the Atlantic and this side of the Pacific.

Few of us can leap tall buildings or bend steel in our bare hands. But we aspire to be like Superman, standing for truth, justice and the American Way.

When the American Way is the right way. Right now, with Trump blubbering around the White House like a malevolent blimp, it’s not.