Let us be clear: Russia is not our friend. They, and China, are the two largest threats to peace, and generally speaking in one way or another they have been suborning or bankrolling or giving material support to most of the “bad guys” in the world: North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and many of the international terrorism groups that have inflicted so much misery on the rest of us. They have been doing those things for decades, and American presidents of both parties have often gone out of their way not to "offend" Russia or China, and on those occasions when our Presidents have challenged them, it’s a safe bet that the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, academia, and “intelligent opinion” have taken the side of – Russia. They did so against Ronald Reagan; considering him a bigger danger than Communism. It really is laughable to hear many of the voices accusing President Trump of “treason” or “being in Putin’s pocket” or worse, because we remember that just a few months or a few years ago they were dismissing the threats from Russia and were more worried that American Presidents were “provocative” or “had a Cold War mentality” than that they were too friendly to Russia or failed to take such threats seriously. It was nearly eight weeks after the 2016 election that President Obama made any serious sanctions on Russia for its behavior in that election. John Brennan, the former CIA Director who has accused President Trump of treason for his press conference performance, himself voted for a Communist candidate for US President in 1976 and did not seem very concerned about Russian aggression or territorial ambitions or geopolitical threats when he was in office. Many of the Democrat members of Congress who have assailed President Trump for being too weak against Russia blasted Ronald Reagan for being too harsh. The Obama administration pulled, at the last minute, defensive missiles from Poland and others of our allies, and did so abruptly, unraveling years of patient diplomacy that had prepared the way for their installation. Was this because the Obama administration saw Russia as a threat? It also stood by as Russia annexed the Crimea and part of Georgia, and as it threatened other American allies – successor states of the former Soviet Union who truly understood the danger posed by Russia. This after the “reset” of our relations from the dark days of the Bush administration, which was seen as failing to appreciate Russia’s geopolitical needs.
Would that we had a President who, like Ronald Reagan, completely understood the threat of Communism and of Russia, and was willing to call them out for the ruthless opponents they were. When he called them “an evil empire,” did the foreign policy establishment applaud? Did the Democrats in Congress say, “At last”? Did the opinion press recognize his perception and the truth of his remarks? No – he was blasted for his unwarranted provocation, for his failure to appreciate the “nuances” of American policy, and for upsetting the diplomatic applecart. Ronald Reagan strongly opposed the Soviet Union’s efforts to export gas to Europe. Why? Because it would enrich Russia at the expense of our friends and allies; and because it exposed them to “energy blackmail” by Russia. President Trump has objected to the very similar circumstances that exist today relative to Russian sales of gas to Europe – does that sound like someone who is in Putin’s pocket? He has publicly coerced, shamed and browbeat our NATO allies to increase their spending on defense. Does that make him a puppet of Putin? He has publicly called out Germany for the shocking deterioration in its military readiness. Does that sound like someone who is on Russia’s side?
We absolutely agree – President Trump is wrong to be harsher on Canada or the UK or Germany or NATO than he is on Russia. He is wrong to undermine our alliances. He is wrong to accept at face value anything Valdimir Putin says. We are glad to see that those people who have spent their entire public careers criticizing those who were critical of the USSR or of Russia finally coming around to understanding the threat it presents. Unfortunately, we have this nagging feeling that their opposition to Russia is more opposition to Donald Trump than anything else, and had Hillary Clinton won the election, they would be cautioning against taking too aggressive an approach against Russia. Yes, President Trump may well have made his worst mistake or had his poorest week; but let’s not forget the speech he gave in Poland last year, when he laid out chapter and verse of the odious way the Soviet Union allied itself with Nazi Germany as France and Belgium and Luxembourg and the Netherlands and Norway fell. And the perfidious way freedom was extinguished by the USSR in Eastern and Central Europe after the fall of Nazi Germany. Donald Trump knows the truth behind Russia. It is deeply to be regretted that he did not remember it in Helsinki. We are heartened to know, however, that everyone else seems to distrust the Russians now.