Remember the 1940 meeting in
which U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt publicly berated
Belgian King Leopold III for resisting the Nazi invasion, and
announced that the U.S. would now work to resolve matters with Nazi
Germany?
Probably
not. Mr. Trump’s recent conduct is unique among U.S. presidents.
(Actually,
in 1940, U.S. assistance to the Allies was highly controversial,
although both FDR and Republican nominee Wendell Willkie favored it.)
We
all saw Russia invade Ukraine in February 2022. Senator Marco Rubio
explained in a moving video why this was important far beyond Europe:
not only was it illegal aggression, but when
the USSR’s disintegration had left Ukraine a nuclear power, Ukraine
gave up its nukes when the U.S., Britain,
and Russia guaranteed Ukrainian security. Now Russia
has invaded twice. Rubio correctly
argued
that opposing Putin was essential because not
doing so would tell all
potential nuclear powers they
couldn’t trust our promises.
No
sensible U.S. citizen can feel great about Mr. Trump claiming Ukraine
started the war, voting with North Korea, against U.S. allies, on a
U.N. resolution condemning Russian aggression, having an obvious
crush on Mr. Putin, and attacking Zelenskyy, publicly and unfairly.
Trump
doesn’t care about peace or justice in Ukraine. If he did, he’d
have enhanced U.S. and Allied efforts to discourage Russian
aggression.
Mr.
Trump only wants Mr. Trump to look good. He seems also a uniquely
cowardly man who resents courage, whether shown by U.S. prisoners of
war such as Sen. John McLain or Ukrainians resisting Putin’s war
crimes. Thus, Mr. Trump seeks a “Great Powers” carving up of
Ukraine. He believes he and Mr. Putin should discuss peace. Ukraine
and our European allies, aware that Adolfs and Vlads don’t stop
with Czechoslovakia or Ukraine, needn’t participate, but must take
what Mr. Putin decides. Does Trump also figure that letting Putin
grab eastern Europe and letting China absorb Taiwan will smooth the
way to the U.S. grabbing Greenland and Panama?
For
him, Ukraine doesn’t matter. Trump feels that he and Putin have
“been through a lot together.” He means the uproar over Putin’s
cyber-support for Trump in 2016 and the credible reports that Trump
minions cooperated in that effort. Too, Zelenskyy declined Trump’s
request to dig up or make up dirt on Joe Biden’s son.
It
would be hard to find a bigger single undermining of world respect
for the U.S., or one less necessary. Even Republicans are
embarrassed.
Trump
had already squandered U.S. power to push for a viable peace, by
acceding in advance to Putin’s demands. Trump acting like a
spoiled child and the Ukrainian President trying to handle the
tantrum as best he could was the sort of scene the world has feared
for years now.
My
father fought in World War II. I came to manhood during the U.S.
imperialistic destruction of Viet Nam, and opposed it. Rightly, I
believe. I have since learned more about World War II, and the
aggression of Nazi Germany and Japan, and why sometimes nations and
individuals must unite to pay the necessary cost to oppose tyranny
and uphold international law. Since
then, starting wars has become even less acceptable – although
Russia and the U.S. have both been guilty of it.
Trump
argues that Ukraine resisting Putin heightens the risk of nuclear
war; maybe so; but
giving Putin everything he might want because he could trigger world
destruction just doesn’t sit right. Appeasement
doesn’t work.
–
30 --
[The
above column appeared Sunday, 9 March, in the Las Cruces Sun-News,
and should be posted soon on the newspaper’s website, as well as on
the KRWG website under Local Viewpoints. A shortened and sharpened
radio commentary version will air during the coming week on KRWG
(90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM /
http://www.lccommunityradio.org/).
]
[
I’ve not a lot to add to this one. There are many eloquent
statements by people of all political complexions, pointing out
additional ways Trump’s conduct was stupid, anti-freedom,
anti-U.S., and subservient to Putin; but whoever hasn’t yet seen
that likely won’t from whatever I add below.]
[But
I will include comments by Republican David Brooks, who I think is a
bit too kind to the U.S. but accurate regarding Trump:
“I
was nauseated, just nauseated. All my life, I have had a certain idea
of about America, that we're a flawed country, but we're
fundamentally a force for good in the world, that we defeated Soviet
Union, we defeated fascism, we did the Marshall Plan, we did PEPFAR
(President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) to help people live in
Africa. And we make mistakes, Iraq, Vietnam, but they're usually
mistakes out of stupidity, naivete and arrogance.
“They're
not because we're ill-intentioned. What I have seen over the last six
weeks is the United States behaving vilely, vilely to our friends in
Canada and Mexico, vilely to our friends in Europe. And today was the
bottom of the barrel, vilely to a man who is defending Western
values, at great personal risk to him and his countrymen."
“Donald
Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And,
in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a
feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a
world that's safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive.
And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office."
“And
I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am
I feeling shock, like I'm in a hallucination? But I just think shame,
moral shame. It's a moral injury to see the country you love behave
in this way.” ]
[Others
have quoted Churchill’s remark to then-Ptime-Minister Neville
Chamberlain after Munich, in 1938: “You had the choice between war
and dishnor. You chose dishonor, yet you will have war.” But
Trump lacks even Chamberlain’s excuse. Britain did not feel ready
to fight Germany; but no one is even asking the U.S. to fight Russia,
but only to continue three years’ support of Ukraine and try to
broker some reasonable peace agreement if that proves feasible.]
[
Finally, here are excerpts from
a highly accurate and moving speech by a French Senator to the French
Senate just days ago:
“My
dear colleagues,
Europe
is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is
crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
This
is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a
tragedy for the United States. . . .
“Never
in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the
enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never
has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many
illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from
doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop,
weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
. . .
“This
is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember
that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down
the Weimar Republic and its Constitution. . .
“We
were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by
a traitor.
Eight
days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back
in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and
North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian
troops.
“Two
days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was
giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before
dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign. .
. .
“What
to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.
And
first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be
the defeat of Europe. . . .
“What
Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States
and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the
prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
This
idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in
favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian
vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of
influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries. .
. . Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, yours are Ukraine, the
Baltics and Eastern Europe, [Xi’s] is Taiwan and the China Sea.
“So
we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false.
Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In
three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has
managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less
populated. . . .
“The
American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever
made in a war.
“The
shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of
denial. . . . [T]he survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are
in their hands and that they have three imperatives.
“We
must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear,
and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right
and the extreme left.
“They
say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their
peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de
Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.
“Is
this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the
last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy
decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans
react.
“Polls
are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds
in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.
“The
Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive,
the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.
“But
in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They
are beginning to raise their heads.
“Our
parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.
The
task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st
century.
Long
live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.”
-Claude
Malhuret speaking to the French Senate March 4, 2025 ]