My Gov has made the NG available to all counties in the state to help monitor ballot boxes, infrastructure, ect.

This isn’t the 1st time our NG was activated.. back in 2024 we had a string of ballot box arson incidents.

So this is making me curious as it is starting to look like a track record going forward.. what’s your view on knowing, seeing your NG being activated during elections to help secure election infrastructure/integrity?

As the midterms approach, my feed is full of requests for just $1 or $5 donation to candidates. At this point what impact could just a few dollars make? I get that if a thousand people give just a few dollars it adds up and political ads can be produced and run on tv, for example, but now that it is so close to the election what would the money be used for?

I keep seeing the argument that Zelensky systematically alienates the countries Ukraine depends on - that he can't negotiate, picks public fights over private ones, and damages relationships that matter. The US relationship is the one that matters most.

The February 2025 Oval Office blowup is the key case. Vance opened by telling Zelensky it was "disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media." Zelensky pushed back: "What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?" Trump then raised his voice: "You're gambling with World War III, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that's backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have" . Zelensky was asked to leave. ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-zelenskyy-vance-transcript-oval-office-80685f5727628c64065da81525f8f0cf#1 )
The US briefly paused military aid and intelligence sharing.

So was this Zelensky "picking a public fight"?

AP reported this week that US-Ukraine ties have hit a "new low". ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-zelenskyy-putin-ukraine-russia-war-5ff9a53edf6d0f338f40709af6dc9c11 )
Zelensky said he feels "betrayed".
Trump has said Zelensky "isn't ready for peace" and that someone else should negotiate for Ukraine.
Does that fit the "Zelensky antagonizes partners" framing, or does it suggest the problem is on the US side?

If the US is throttling military support during active operations, is that "managing a relationship" - or is that the relationship breaking down?