Trump and Putin and NATO and Ukraine

Trump and Putin and NATO and Ukraine

According to reliable news sources, former president and presidential candidate Donald Trump has told Russia, including its leader Putin, to “do whatever the hell [you] want” to any NATO country that is not spending enough (whatever that means) towards its own defense.

It’s one thing to urge NATO allies to spend more on their own defense and not to fall behind in its obligations to the alliance. It’s something else to say “Do the hell whatever [you] want” to any country!

But this is typical of Trump’s reckless rhetoric. Again and again he says things, without backtracking, that are simply reckless and dangerous. And that is just one example.

It now appears increasingly likely that Trump will be re-elected president of the United States. Only the second time in history that a former president has been elected again. In itself, that is not a problem. The danger is that he has demonstrated that he does not trust elections that he does not like or agree with and will incite violence to attempt to overturn them.

Trump’s chosen running mate, J. D. Vance, has publicly stated (according to reliable news sources) that he does not believe VP Pence’s life was in danger during the January 6 capitol riot. I know that Pence believes his life was in danger. Whom should we believe? Also, Vance says that he would not have sealed the election had he been VP on that fateful day.

I am very much afraid of this mob of Republican Trump-supporters who raise their fists and chant “Fight! Fight! Fight!” So should you be. This is too reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s. Political fanatics devoted to one strong man and willing to fight for him.

What exactly is their cause? Make American great again? In what way is American not great already? What is their agenda? I will tell you: To expel immigrants who they do not like.

I saw a county’s Republican leader on TV arguing that immigration should be “merit based.” Only people with something to offer America should be permitted to emigrate here. The Statue of Liberty says otherwise. This is a clear signal of underlying Social Darwinism.

I am not in favor of unlimited immigration. But limiting immigration to those who have something to offer us is selfish. We should accept migrants whose lives are in danger elsewhere, as many as we can. That is the Christian and truly American way.

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