Then National Security Adviser John Bolton looks on as then President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the G-7 summit, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada: NAJ Video screen shot

Guest Column –
By George Zadigian –

As our hearts break for the people of Ukraine, it is imperative that we wrap our heads around the fact that this is the price of supporting a president who stridently promoted “America First”.

This is the price of supporting a president that cast doubt on American’s commitment to NATO and weakened its deterrent strength. This is the price of supporting a president and his enablers who divided us here at home and made us weak in the eyes of adversaries. This is the price of supporting a president that invited Russian interference in our elections and chose to support Putin’s account of that election over the findings of our own CIA.

This is also the price of letting a president get away with holding military aid to Ukraine hostage to getting political dirt on an election rival. And this is the price of supporting a president that aligned himself with aggressive authoritarians and actively promoted selfishness and self-interest here at home and before the United Nations.

While some may say that this thesis is nothing more than “Monday morning quarterbacking,” the facts are that myself and many others steeped in foreign policy warned of the risks Trump was creating by ripping up previous foreign policy agreements, casting doubt on our commitment to allies, and cozying up to authoritarians like Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, Turkey’s Erdogan and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un.

As a conservative, a Republican and a student of foreign policy for over 40 years, never have I seen anything like the set of self-inflicted wounds former President Trump wrought upon us. Never in the history of the world has a global hegemon withdrawn from its position of power and responsibilities like the U.S. did during the Trump presidency.

Setting aside Trump’s ties to Putin prior to 2016, during the 2016 election, Trump and his campaign team invited and coordinated with Russian nationals to interference in our elections, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Mueller report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In July 2017, Trump chose to side with Putin’s denial of interference over the assessment of our CIA, an agency full of extraordinarily bright and patriotic Americans (that has admittedly made many mistakes in the past, but still has a mission to protect American democracy and promote democracy abroad).

In 2017, within months of taking office, Trump began a long string of confrontations with NATO country heads of state over their defense spending. After years of bully and threatening our NATO allies, in June 2020, Trump ordered the withdrawal of 12,000 U.S. troops from Europe to the “dismay” of our allies who said it “undermined NATO and boosted adversaries like Russia,” as The Wall Street Journal summed it up and despite bipartisan objections here at home. (President Joe Biden froze the withdrawal order after he took office).

Sadly, Trump’s bullying of NATO allies wasn’t limited to military spending. In March 2018, Trump began a trade war with NATO allies, imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum, auto parts, aircraft, and consumer products while also targeting other trading partners, including China, and announcing with much braggadocio that “trade wars are a good thing”.

Given Putin’s primary goal of weakening NATO, former National Security Advisor John Bolton summed up why Putin didn’t invade Ukraine during Trump’s presidency: “Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him.”

In June 2018 at the G7 Meeting, during a dinner of diplomats in Quebec, Canada, Trump appeared to condoned Putin’s 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea, stating that “Crimea is part of Russia because everyone there speaks Russian.” Trump’s assertion that the West should look the other way and let Russia rejoin the G7, signaled Putin that Trump was fine with Russian military invasions, so long as they didn’t directly impinge on America’s immediate self-interest.

In 2018 and 2019, Trump allowed Putin to install S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile batteries in Syria, significantly complicating freedom to navigation for U.S. and Israeli aircraft. In 2019, Trump withdrew U.S. troops from Syria, abandoning to the slaughter Kurdish troops that had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. troops to defeat ISIS, and empowering a triumvirate of brutal authoritarians: Putin, Assad and Erdogan. Secretary of Defense Mattis resigned over the decision, but “Trump insisted America has nothing at stake in Syria.”

In 2019, Trump held and delayed for months $391 million of defensive military aid to Ukraine hostage to receiving political dirt on rival Joe Biden. The Congressionally authorized funds were “meant to bolster Ukrainian forces in their ongoing conflict against Russian invaders in the country’s east.” While the funds were eventually released after a whistleblower complaint, and Trump was impeached, adversaries were watching a divided America being led by a president with little commitment to allies.

With an eye over of the horizon toward what will likely be our next major international crisis, China trying to take Taiwan by force, it is essential that our memories be seared with day Trump delivered his “America First” inauguration speech and promptly withdrew the U.S from TPP.

Trump, eager to rip up any Obama achievement, gave away our most significant means of deterring China. Beginning in 2008 under the leadership of President Bush, TPP brought together eleven Asian Pacific, and North and South American allies into a trading block to enhance economic growth among free nations and check China’s bourgeoning economic growth. The eleven nations, also keenly aware of China’s accelerating territorial aggression, and that the military might is derivative of economic might, understood that the best means of deterring China was to band together economically.

Tragically, Trump, a go-it-alone, short-term, free-wheeling person hungry for accolades, withdrew the U.S. from TPP. So, someday, when China tries to take Taiwan by force, just like Russia is trying to take Ukraine, I hope people recall the day Trump opened the door to that invasion by withdrawing the U.S. from TPP.

As Ukraine struggles to survive and we witness the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people, it is imperative that we remember that when American “leaders” distance us from our allies, choose to put their personal interests above the security of our nation and allies, and elevate the short-term and self-interest to thoroughly dominate decision making, the consequences can and often will be devastating.

“America First” and all those who supported and enabled such a mindset and the man behind it, laid the groundwork for what we are witnessing today. May we never do this again.

___
George Zadigian is a retired engineering manager who writes frequently on political topics. An edited version of this column was first published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

___

If you support truth in reporting with no paywall, and fearless writing with no popup ads or sponsored content, consider making a contribution today with GoFundMe or Patreon or PayPal.