Guilty Bystanders

My wife has relatives in Scandinavia with whom she is extremely close. Recently, they have let us know that their countries and neighboring countries are on high alert because of the Ukrainian situation. Doing some investigating, I learned that Sweden’s military is conducting war drills to prepare for a possible Russian invasion. This isn’t some fringe group spouting conspiracy theories. This is the military of one of Europe’s most historically peaceful countries.

No, there has been no change on the ground that is causing this extreme reaction. The change is in Washington with the Trump Administration’s one hundred and eighty degree change in policy toward Ukraine and Putin. European countries, long allies of the US, are stunned by Trump’s renewed love affair with Putin. Make America Great Again now seems to mean Make Russia Great Again.

The fate of Ukraine may have already been sealed by Trump not inviting European countries to participate in peace talks. Trump excluded the countries that are most vulnerable if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t thwarted. Baltic countries like Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia know if Ukraine falls, they are next. Countries like Norway, Finland, and Poland that share borders with Russia or Ukraine are now preparing for what they fear is inevitable. Germany, Denmark, France, and the UK are also preparing.

You cannot find the roots of this change toward dictators and democracies in Republican political theory. Nothing in this new policy stems from Bob Dole, George Bush, John McCain, or Mitt Romney. All of this comes out of the mind of Donald Trump, a man who admits to reading little and who avoids taking the advice of Republican political theorists.

With every passing week of his second term, Trump seems more like Putin than the leader of a democracy. Both men love the word “annex,” Putin for Ukraine and the Baltic countries, Trump for Greenland and Canada. Both men want to weaken the checks and balances provided by independent judicial systems and a free press. Both men are obsessed with punishing enemies and in an ongoing quest for unlimited power.

In replying to European relatives and friends who are terrified, I would offer this comfort. I don’t believe the majority of those who voted for Trump desire for Ukraine or any other European country to be taken over by Russia. I don’t believe a majority of those who voted for Trump want our country to snub our NATO partners and to be on friendlier terms with Putin, a man who assassinates his critics, than with the heads of European democracies.

The backlash to Trump’s not-so-brave new world is already building around the globe and, yes, in our own country. Our European friends know that what they are witnessing is not what America has stood for. They hope that we wake up before it’s too late for them.