The competition for the Republican presidential nomination has become a race to the exit when it comes to the most dangerous armed conflict on the planet. Both Donald Trump and his main rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are rushing (or should we say Russian?) to leave the Ukraine to the predation of Vladimir Putin. A little over a year is apparently too long for the United States to hold its ground in the face of a brutal and illegal invasion.
in a statement To Fox News’ Tucker Carlson (naturally), DeSantis listed US national interests, including “controlling the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party,” and then went on to say that “getting further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia”. ” was not among them.
The completely unprovoked Russian assault is not a mere “dispute”. It is an abomination and a human rights catastrophe that threatens to undermine the world order, to the extent that it exists. Furthermore, it takes curiously blindered vision for an aspiring commander-in-chief to count as a core national security priority rolling back the influence of China’s Politburo as it reels so early in a real real war. Indeed, if the US, as the leader of the West, does indeed throw Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his compatriots to the bear, it will provide the clearest permission imaginable to Beijing that it can trample on its sovereign neighbor, Taiwan. You can’t spell “irony” without Ron.
As for Trump, it is not at all surprising that the man who, as president, repeatedly fawned over Putin told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he could have let Russia “take control” of parts of Ukraine to avoid a war. (“Peace for our time,” anyone?) Their “America First” ideology really means letting the tyrants of the planet do their bidding.
Let’s be clear. The United States should never go to war, let alone a war against a great power; that disrespects the sacrifice of our troops and the pockets of our taxpayers. But finding effective ways to counter tyranny when it rears its head is the price of global leadership.
