Trump changing sides

Situation has changed since my last "Trump calm" post before his inauguration.
 

I am outraged and embarrassed by the conduct of the US foreign policy under President Trump - mainly in regard to alliance with European countries and war in Ukraine. Here is my letter to Alaska Republican senators who might inject some reason into the White House process.

Honorable Senator,
I am extremely disturbed by the twists and turns recently taken by President Trump in the direction of US foreign policy. He is leading our country toward very horrible and dishonorable outcomes where we forsake long-term friends and allies with whom we share ideological liberal outlook for alliances with unsavory dictatorships bent on increasing the radius of their domination and bullying.

The disturbing events started rolling out of the White House the weekend of the Munich Security Conference. While I agreed with JD Vance's frank criticism of European repressive handling of freedom of speech, I could not stomach the repudiation of benefits of the NATO alliance that started emanating from White House and Trumpist events (CPAC) afterwards. While Europeans have their problems, they share the liberal outlook that is foundational to the US political freedom and they can process criticisms and address their problems in the way we, Americans, would.

Europe understands the danger of Russian imperialism well because of its history of imposing itself on Western Europe since the times of Napoleon. Russia was stopped briefly during the Crimean war in 1850s by Britain and France acting jointly. The door to further Russian expansion in Europe was thrown open once again by decisions of US President Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta in 1945 by allowing for the Soviet Russia sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Now, Europe is much more united than at the time of WWII and has created the European Union - a political alliance of liberal countries.
Russia has the ambition of dismembering the EU and dominating major portions of it, just like the Soviet Union dominated Eastern Europe. Russia is an illiberal monster of political entity that is a threat to Europe - and to America too, although to lesser degree. Europe must act now to deal with this threat. The opportunity is that Russia blundered into the invasion of Ukraine and can be defeated by increasing the support to the invaded country. This is both ethical and politically effective. Russia can be brought to negotiations as a defeated power.

At this point the US president undercuts the effort of Europe and Ukraine by siding with Russia and throwing them a lifeline. Unconscionably, the US President makes excuses for Russian aggression. This is deeply unethical and drives the US away from its NATO partners and toward a treacherous political cooperation with Russia - bordering on an alliance. This may lead not only to disintegration of NATO, which means losing the loyalty and support of Europeans, but even toward a perception of the US as the adversary to Europe. This is all appalling and dangerous.

I ask you, Senators, to take necessary action in US Congress to prevent President Trump from following through with his pro-Russian folly. This is a course of action which was not implied, or discussed, in his campaign and is not well thought through as a strategic geopolitical change of course for America. Even if such change were somehow advantageous to the US, we would have to grapple with the ethical ramifications of allying with a deformed version of imperial Russia against liberal Europe.

I am a resident of the state of Washington, but wish to appeal to Republican lawmakers who might have more influence on President Trump. Especially, the Alaska congressional delegation might be sensitive to the issue of US stance vis-à-vis Russia. Being a native to Poland, and naturalized American, this issue touches me deeply.

Trump Comes Back

Thesis: Trump's second ascension to US presidency, and even Trump's persona, all seem quite reasonable after the excesses of the Biden administration.

After the election in 2020, we all thought that we have seen the end to the anomalous Trump presidency. Especially, after the lawsuits and the failed "coup" or "insurrection" of January 6. On January 20 2021, Trump walked out of the White House quite unceremoniously and was gone.

Now we have a surprising come back - and it feels surprisingly normal and sane. Why?

The first Trump elevation to the office of president was met with hysterical protests from the left. The Women's march using the pink "pussy hat" as its main token reminiscent of the revolutionary bonnets of the French Revolution was the opening salvo of the "resistance." The opposition Democratic party had then unfurled its Leftist phalanx as its main force. Their vocabulary included accusations of fascism, nazism, misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, transphobia, etc. Trump administration was accused by them of damaging democracy in America and its constitutional order. The inconsistency there was that Leftism is actually desirous of specifically that - of dismantling and destroying the free-market capitalism supported by the liberal order.

The four years of Trump - 2017-2020 - were the years of media lies about Trump. To be sure, Trump did lie too - and he broke the law almost every day. The Trump watch during his presidency was an entertaining discussion of the constitutionality and legality of Trump's daily actions. Nevertheless, the main stream media were on a mission of framing anything said or done by Trump or his presumed supporters in a negative, biased and contorted way. The chief example is the clip where Trump utters the words "very fine people" in a press conference. He took pains to explain that he did not consider Nazis to be "very fine people" whereas the media took all measures to proclaim that he asserted the abhorrent opposite. This media lie originated in August 2017 and was still used in attacks on Trump before his election last year - by none other than Barack Obama.

Similar media support extended to the Leftist ideologies - now embraced by the Democratic party - which are a long list of novel social ideas such as equity, antiracism, social justice, trans ideology, defunding the police, - and to new social grievances such as white supremacy, toxic masculinity, relitigating legacy of slavery, etc.

The 2020 election of replacements for Trump was encumbered with additional two big problems which became fodder for the anti-Trump media. One was the Covid-19 pandemic that required genuinely authoritative actions from all levels of government. The other was the death of an arrestee in police custody that was framed by the media as racist police brutality and effectively murder. Trump's administration could hardly avoid being criticized for any decisions regarding Covid - including travel restrictions, restrictions on public gatherings and business - which were made with limited knowledge. Much was left to be decided by local authorities - mostly on the basis of guidance coming in from the CDC which is a federal agency staffed with career medical technologists hired long before Trump's first term. Any ideas about dealing with Covid coming from other sources than the CDC were ridiculed in the media - to remind you of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine which became toxic words even when recommended by doctors actually treating patients. Also any talk about methods of boosting autoimmune system using standard vitamin supplements and sharing experience treating Covid patients became toxic. The so-called "murder" of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis gave impulse to protests and riots boosting the BLM "Black Lives Matter" movement. Due to Leftist media activism and framing BLM became a world-wide movement.

The Biden administration emerged in the fog of 2020. Many constitutionalist anti-Trumpers, myself included, reluctantly preferred a second Trump term. I thought that Trump would be needed to stem the tide of Leftism that gained support with the Democratic party during 4-year anti-Trump campaign - especially in the last year burdened with the pandemic and BLM riots. But then I could not articulate how that would happen. How would Trump be a bulwark against Leftism if all they see in him is just the antithesis of all their insane ideas? Now I understand that back in 2020 Trump, elected for second term, would only enrage the Left. Biden sedated them.

Now I think the other anti-Trumpers were right back in 2020 that the Democrats taking the helm of power in the US would stem the tide of Leftism. Unexpectedly to me, they had a sedative effect on the Left. The Leftists got the message that the adults were in control and they could return to their typical cheering for the government or nonsensical protests for "climate justice." The old man was at the wheel of the car and the children could safely sleep in the back seat. Not surprisingly "patriarchy" has a calming effect. It was not immediate, it was not about damming the tide but draining it gradually. By the end of 2024 the Leftist energy is drained as much as is Biden's life energy. The Left handcuffed itself to the arm of an expiring man and went down with the blessings of an unremarkable woman who could only champion "abortion access" as the only surviving item of their agenda.

Trump's strength is in his popular support and his ability to commandeer the Republican party but his return is prepared by his opponents who proved to be feeble after all. The politically motivated lawsuits, the media portrayals of "convicted felon", "literally Hitler", "democracy is on the ballot" - all to no avail. He even "resisted" assassination attempts.

In the election of 2024 I thought we had two very bad candidates. Both Trump and Kamala Harris were not the caliber of person who should be the chief executive of the US. Kamala Harris seemed to be in her place as an accidental politician. Her career is one of advancing upwards opportunistically. Trump is a businessman seeking deals and profits - not a material for a politician who should care to support the country's institutions. My pals at ProjectLiberal were rooting for Kamala while preparing to strongly criticize her eventual presidency for any expected anti-liberal (typically Leftist) policies and decisions. Now they ought to go back to anti-Trumpism - and check Trump for illiberal policies. Not an easy switch.

I am finding myself relieved that Trump will take the helm. I do not fear for the integrity of US institutions under Trump. I think we will see a very active executive, operating within constitutional limits but venturing into new terrain. We have seen a preview in the foreign policy area - with proposals of territorial expansion of the US toward the Arctic. This, the looming use of tariffs in international trade, immigration policy, are definitely prerogatives of the presidency, but ones which can have a big impact on the country.

There is calm on Left - the Biden sedative still in effect. I suppose also the sense of Trump being the inevitability.