It was 1980 and I was stationed on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. It was a time when military members were treated with scorn and disrespect by many Americans. I often wondered why I had even bothered to enlist when all it got me was low pay, sneers and belittlement.

One day I took the chance to go up on the flight deck to get some fresh air. When I looked off the port side, I saw a Russian cruiser not two miles away, shadowing us, watching our every move.

In that instant, I knew why my service mattered. I was part of a protective shield for our allies, keeping a belligerent and evil dictatorship from invading and imprisoning the free and democratic nations of Europe.

Now, I see my service was for naught. A megalomaniac P.T. Barnum huckster is in power and he has sold us out, lock, stock and barrel to those same Russians. Sadly, the apologists and cheerleaders for that huckster-in-chief are perfectly OK with that sellout. If it ends up costing innocent lives, well, that is their problem.

How much did it cost Donald Trump? A Putin promise not to expose some dirty secrets? In any event, he has sold the national soul in a Faustian deal with the devil.

In an interesting aside, a story on NFL.com points out that in 2005, Vladimir Putin brazenly stole Robert Kraft’s Superbowl XXXIX ring. He still has it.

That is Trump’s buddy in a nutshell.

Andrew Hall, Lewiston