President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance threw down the gauntlet in their Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Three years after Russian troops invaded Ukraine with the aim of wiping the country off the map, Trump lambasted the man who rejected the Biden administration’s advice to flee his country and instead resisted the Russian onslaught singlehandedly establishing Ukraine as the frontline in then fight for European freedom and democracy.
Donald Trump Wants to Dump Ukraine
Trump’s reading of history is morally averse. By drawing equivalence between Russia and Ukraine, Trump ignores Putin’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.
On college campuses, students and progressive professors have long criticized U.S. policy and “forever war” with the slogan, “No blood for oil.” If they understood history better, they might realize that the commonality in U.S. policy across administrations is a rejection of attempts to annex and erase other countries.
In the post-World War II period, this explains President Harry S. Truman’s involvement in Korea, President Lyndon Johnson’s intervention in Vietnam, George H.W. Bush’s rescue of Kuwait, Bill Clinton’s deployment of the U.S. military into Bosnia, and Barack Obama’s reluctant reentry into Iraq and intervention in Syria.
Ukraine breaks the mold only in its willingness to fight absent U.S. troops. In theory, at least until today’s Oval Office quarrel, Ukraine was the perfect ally for a Trump-led White House. Where else could Trump find a country willing to sacrifice so much while demanding so little for its freedom? By throwing Zelensky under the bus, Trump not only emboldens Russia to demand more from Ukraine, but he also imperils Europe more directly.
NATO or not, the United States will simply not come to the defense of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania, let alone Poland. They are on their own. Nor could Russia be the only aggressor: Turkey seeks half of the Aegean and all of Cyprus.
Will anyone support Greece and Cyprus if Turkey invades? The fundamental flaw in Undersecretary of Defense-nominee Elbridge Colby’s logic has always been that those making excuses to turn their backs on Ukraine would somehow rally to Taiwan’s defense rather than making similar excuses, perhaps gravitating to the next ambitious Colby who would argue Taiwan was not worth it and instead the United States should keep its powder dry for some other potential victim.
The courage of conviction has been lacking in Washington for some time. Two decades ago, John Kerry was before the Iraq War before he was against it. Many Republicans went into Trump’s North Korea and Taliban negotiations knowing both were strategically stupid.
Many Democrats may today condemn Trump’s abandonment of Europe, but what really is the difference between what Trump does to Europe and what Biden-era National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan did with his abandonment of Afghans? “It had to come to an end,” Sullivan quipped as Afghans risked their lives to flee the country. Perhaps Democrats will say Afghanistan is not Europe, but that is arguably more a racial judgement than a strategic one.
2028 and the Ukraine Issue
Frankly, it need not be either/or. Abandoning Afghanistan was wrong; so too is abandoning Ukraine. Elections matters, and Trump won handily. But 2028 fast approaches. What the United States will need are leaders, regardless of their parties. Men and women with the courage of their convictions, not cable news analysts who change revise their beliefs as the winds shift. That is not leadership.
Journalists should ask every potential candidate: Those like Governors Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom, Senator Mark Kelly, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Democratic side; Secretary Mike Pompeo, Ambassador Nikki Haley, Governor Brian Kemp and even Secretary Marco Rubio on the Republican side their views now: Are they with Zelensky or against Zelensky, with Putin or against Putin? Or are they the type of person who will perform intellectual somersaults to have it both ways?
Too much is now at stake. The American people and, frankly, the free world deserve insight into their potential leaders’ true beliefs and values rather than the pivots of poll- and focus-driven political consultant creations.
No longer can Washington or the free world afford anyone who was for Ukraine (or Israel or Taiwan) before they were against them.
About the Author: Dr. Michael Rubin
Dr. Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum. He is also a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor. The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own.
