“It was the best of times…it was the worst of times”…and these are the most unsettling times…with Trump’s shocking NATO statement Saturday, encouraging Russia to do “whatever the hell they want to do…” brings back frightening memories of World War II and the cold war. Is that our fate? Where is our Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower? Our fate is dependent on the character of our Leader. Think about what and who makes us proud, their character, honesty, humility, and dedication to our country and not to themselves.
David French, a New York Times and National Review (conservative right-libertarian magazine) writer yesterday offered the opinion below.
If Trump Betrays NATO, He Betrays America
At a rally on Saturday, Donald Trump made one of the most dangerous declarations ever uttered by a presumptive nominee of a major American political party. As his MAGA crowd cheered him on, he said he would “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that were “delinquent” in meeting NATO defense-spending targets.
The statement was shocking and — if he wins in November — deeply destabilizing. In ordinary political times it would be catastrophic to his candidacy, perhaps even catastrophic enough to energize Nikki Haley’s campaign. But these are not ordinary times.
Trump is leveraging a deeply troubling combination of partisan and ideological hatred and mass-scale civic ignorance to create the conditions for World War III. He’s every bit as dangerous as American isolationists before World War II. If one could imagine a combination of Charles Lindbergh and Neville Chamberlain, that would be Donald Trump.
I’ve interacted with MAGA enough to understand its motivations. Elements of the right despise Western democracies that they believe are “weak” or “woke.” Many of those same people admire Vladimir Putin as a modern form of Christian nationalist, a man who can wield the power of the state to protect the faith against a secularizing West.
Only a small minority of Americans hold those views, but they have disproportionate power in part because they can exploit a staggering amount of civic ignorance. Americans simply don’t know what NATO means to the United States. Many of them think we’re doing Europe some sort of favor by helping guarantee our allies’ security.
But as we’ve learned again, and again, and again in American history, starting with the War of 1812, large-scale European conflicts don’t just result in slaughter abroad; they cost us dearly at home.
NATO’s ultimate goal is relatively simple, but vital to the entire human race — to keep the gates of hell closed. By deterring a Great Power war with vast destructive potential, NATO enables an immense amount of prosperity and human flourishing, all of which could go up in literal smoke if our resolve fails.
And now a corrupt and obviously mentally decaying reality-television star threatens to crack open those terrible gates, to the raucous cheers of his devoted fans. I have concerns about Joe Biden, but no matter his condition next term, one thing I do know: He will not endanger America by destroying our most vital alliance.
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