By Rudy Barnes, Jr., March 1, 2025
The recent statements of Trump claiming Zelensky is a dictator with no public support who started the war in Ukraine, and Trump’s meeting with Putin to end the war without Zelensky, is similar to Neville Chamberlain's efforts to appease Hitler’s aggressions at the beginning of WWII. Unfortunately America doesn’t have a Winston Churchill waiting in the wings to save us.
The abandonment of Republican support for Ukraine against Putin’s aggression reveals a feckless Republican Party that should be minimized to reduce partisan polarization and restore a functioning Congress. Trump has so intimidated Republicans in Congress that they have succumbed to his demand for unquestioned loyalty to his reckless narcissistic policies.
Zelensky has said that Trump lives in “disinformation space.” That’s putting it too mildly. Trump and his spineless Republican Party have sold out Ukraine’s future--one not unlike America’s efforts to gain its freedom. Trump is a wannabe dictator sympathetic to Putin who is impressing the world that America doesn’t deserve the respect it had before the Trump regime.
In the wake of Trump’s unjustified criticism of Zelensky, Senator John Thune of South Dakota has said, “Right now you have to give Trump some space;” Just the opposite is more appropriate. Trump has made a mess of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, and there should be no more delay in correcting his grievous errors.
American voters must recruit and elect independents to fill GOP Congressional seats in 2026 to correct Trump policies. After viable independent candidates are recruited, then ballots must be secured and counted to prevent a Russian style mockery of democracy. Remember, Trump favors Putin’s style of democracy, and he would likely assist Trump with election fraud.
For Republicans to redeem their party they must pledge independence from Trump and loyalty to support and defend the Constitution from radical right corruptions, like Project 2025. The elections in 2026 and 2028 will allow American democracy to be born again, once again promoting the light of liberty and the common good in an otherwise dark world.
Americans can’t claim ignorance for the demise of democracy and abandoning Ukraine. They should have seen it coming with Trump’s first term and his campaign promises in 2024. Trump has referred to Musk as an unelected “patriot” and empowered him to head DOGE to reshape the Constitution and eliminate essential government services.
So far Congress and the courts have not prevented Trump and Musk from appeasing Putin for his aggression in Ukraine. Great Britain’s Parliament replaced Chamberlain with Winston Churchill, who led the Allies to victory over Hitler in WW II; but the U.S. Constitution doesn’t provide an option for Congress to replace Trump with a statesman like Churchill.
Notes:
On Trump Firing Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Flurry of Dismissals at Pentagon, see https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/trump-fires-cq-brown-pentagon.html.
The NYTimes Editorial Board asked, Who Will Stand Up to Trump on Ukraine? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/opinion/trump-ukraine-russia-republicans.html.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, once called Mr. Putin a “thug” and a war criminal, saying he “needs to be dealt with.” But shortly after Mr. Trump announced that Mr. Putin had extended an invitation for the president to travel to Moscow, Mr. Graham changed his tune substantially, writing on social media that Mr. Trump “is Ukraine’s best hope to end this war honorably and justly,” adding that he believes the president “will be successful and he will achieve this goal in the Trump way. ”On Republicans Being Mum after Trump Turned Toward Russia and Against Ukraine”, see https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/trump-ukraine-russia-republicans.html.
On the Disturbing Question at the Heart of the Trump Putin Drama, Thomas L. Friedman has opined, “I can’t blame our traditional friends for being disoriented. But Trump completely misreads Putin. He thinks Putin just needs a little positive attention, a little understanding, a little concern for his security needs — a hug! — and he will sign the peace Trump so badly desires. Nonsense. Putin is not looking for “peace in Ukraine. He is looking for victory in Ukraine" — because without a victory, ‘he is very vulnerable at home. Capitalist democracies will do anything for peace, and Putin’s autocracy will do anything for victory. We need to switch that around. The way to do that would be by signaling to Putin that the Western allies will see his bet and raise him one — “not maligning a heroic nation” that has been fighting to preserve a Europe whole and free.” See https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/opinion/trump-putin-ukraine.html.
The U.S. has reportedly struck a deal with Ukraine that includes access to rare earth minerals for U.S. aid to Ukraine. According to one Ukrainian official, some technical details are still to be determined. However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv. The U.S. and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine would in the future contribute 50% of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including minerals, oil, and gas. One official said the deal had better terms of investments and another one said that Kyiv secured favorable amendments and viewed the outcome as “positive.” The deal does not, however, include security guarantees. One official said that this would be something the two presidents would discuss when they meet. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-economic-agreement-us-72ee2cfa720f6a42455c5425007060e6.
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