WHO WILL BE HAPPY IF TRUMP WINS? It seems Vladimir Putin will be overjoyed! Bibi Netanyahu may also be delighted…
Plus, there are the countless Americans who seem to believe that Trump is capable of transforming our country into some sort of Nirvana-like la la land where massive hurricanes and gargantuan wildfires are a thing of the past. Women will no longer want or need abortions; mass shootings will disappear along with any financial woes for everybody. Somehow, magically, Trump will alleviate the need for any American to worry about anything nationally or globally ever again — or at least until the next election (if there is one).
VLADIMIR PUTIN was once our arch-enemy. But the man who murders his opponents and ruthlessly invades neighboring nations is no longer a pariah, no longer a threat to World Order. Instead, Americans seem willing to embrace Putin along with Donald Trump. In fact the new that Trump has secretly been communicating with Putin since he’s been out of office (7 phone calls according to a recent account by journalist Bob Woodward) didn’t make even a tiny splash. And we have no clue what the two were talking about.
Is Donald Trump saying, “Don’t worry about Ukraine — that war will end the minute I’m sworn into office. You’ll have whatever you want, dear Vladimir.” Or is Trump saying: “And if that doesn’t sate your appetite, my dear friend, you may wish to march into Lithuania or Poland or the Republic of Georgia, too. Well, go right ahead. I certainly won’t be stopping you.”
As for his allegiance to Israel’s leader, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, it’s unclear how Trump’s going to clear up that horrible mess. But many believe Netanyahu is prolonging the demolition of Gaza, the turmoil in Lebanon, and violence in the West Bank until the election is over. In fact the Israeli prime minister seems to have made sure no cease-fire treaty is signed and no effort to return the hostages succeeds until Trump returns to office.
Could that really be true? I think so — it’s what happened when Jimmy Carter was desperately trying to return hostages from Iran at the end of his term and, his political adversary, Ronald Reagan prolonged the agony with secret communications to Iran. “Put any hostage deal on hold.” Just cause he wanted to look like the deal-maker. Wasn’t that cruel and calculating? Absolutely. But some individuals are without conscience — I won’t accuse Reagan of being totally conscience-less but it’s clearTrump lacks any moral compass as do his buddies.
What does that mean for the United States to support a politician who doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong? Who only knows what benefits him and what doesn’t? It means we’ve traveled a huge distance from our president, Abraham Lincoln, who stood by the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves, whether it meant his reelection to a 2nd term or not. The 1864 election was a hotly-contested match that truly tested the nation’s will to end slavery. Lincoln stated: “We may be defeated; we may fail, but we will go down on our principles. I will not modify, qualify, nor retract my proclamation…”
And President Franklin Roosevelt was fearful of moving ahead of the electorate which was 73% against another European war prior to the Nazi Blitz in the Netherlands and Belgium. But he was determined to support France and Great Britain in every way possible — even if it threatened his re-election in 1940. (In fact he probably wouldn’t have run for a 3rd term if he hadn’t been convinced our country had to take whatever steps were necessary to support our allies.)
In other words, the United States has been blessed with many leaders of conscience (both Republican and Democrat); leaders who have a vision of the goodness of our country. They‘ve been willing to take difficult and unpopular positions (including war and other hardships) for what they believed was right. They didn’t promise easy solutions; they didn’t rip apart the fabric of our nation by pitting citizen against citizen; they didn’t dedicate themselves to achieving their own power and wealth regardless of the price to our democracy.
In the upcoming election, however, it’s not Donald Trump or J.D. Vance we have most to fear, it’s the huge number of Americans who appear willing to believe climate change isn’t real; Vladimir Putin isn’t evil; and who choose to blame immigrants at the border for every problem we face. How could Americans have become so mentally and ethically lazy that they want a so-called “strong man” to lead — no matter what are the consequences! That’s what’s so scary and so sad.
