“We know well that wars are fought not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak,” Ronald Reagan declared at the 1980 Republican National Convention.
“It is at this moment that tyrants are tempted,” he added, summarizing his belief that peace can only be secured through strength.
This formulation was self-evident on the American right until Donald Trump followed in Reagan’s footsteps as the Republican Party’s standard-bearer.
But Trump’s careless rhetoric, which often hints at isolationism, has pleased America’s arch enemies in Moscow and Pyongyang and emboldened the isolationist wing of the Republican Party.
In a pro-Trump op-ed last year, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, who was considered a leading candidate to be Trump’s vice presidential nominee and who has made cutting off aid to Ukraine his second-highest congressional priority, characterized the former president’s supposed break from the “hawkish stance” of the “foreign policy establishment” as his greatest achievement in the White House.
Quite the opposite, Senator Vance.
It is true that Trump has rebelled against the foreign policy establishment from the Oval Office.
It is also true that many of his zigs have paid off where others’ zags would not have.
However, Vance’s explanation for the discrepancy is the opposite of reality.
Indeed, nearly all of Trump’s success in shaping world affairs has come not from his flirtation with the Buchanan right, as mentioned above, but from Vance’s willingness to outwit the hawks he dislikes and embrace a radical Reaganite foreign policy.
His maximum pressure strategy against Iran has put Muslim leaders in a bind.
His unwavering support for Israel forced Arab countries to come to the negotiating table.
And, as he reminded Republican lawmakers at a recent Capitol Hill meeting, he has taken a much tougher stance on Vladimir Putin’s Russia than either his predecessor or his successor.
While the Obama administration refused to provide lethal aid to Ukraine despite Putin’s constant military threats, the Trump administration has done just that.
President Trump supported sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but President Biden waived the sanctions soon after taking office.
Rotten Fruit
Biden has been slow to move forward with some significant military aid since Putin invaded Ukraine.
Biden’s kowtowing to his Western enemies has left the results rotten.
His weakness led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel.
His irresponsibility undermined legitimate responses from both Ukraine and Israel.
His ignorance caused the new axis of evil – Russia, China and Iran – to disappear.
And the de facto surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan was the most demoralizing moment for American troops in decades, and one from which the president has never recovered politically.
Does Vance’s suggestion mean that Trump will be more to the left of Biden on foreign affairs?
His political instincts are as confused as his faulty memory of the Trump administration.
Trump should campaign on the basis of victory in the Ukraine war, not just because it is the right thing to do, but also for the sake of his own electoral prospects.
Voters correctly believe that the turmoil of recent years has been caused not by American over-aggression but by a lack of decisive resolve.
A Reagan Institute poll found that 54% of Americans want their country to be more involved in world affairs, and 75% think it is important for the United States that Ukraine succeed in fending off Russia.
Meanwhile, separate polls in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania showed that voters in all battleground states support increasing defense spending.
Importantly, Russia is perceived by the second largest number of voters after China as the greatest threat to American interests.
Perhaps the most telling finding is that when respondents were asked whether America should be a “force for good in the world” or “seek only to defend itself against threats,” overwhelming majorities in every state adopted the broader view of America’s role in the world.
Americans are not so naive as to think that it would be better to allow the world’s most evil regimes to act with impunity.
The political stupidity of Vance’s position is further underscored by another poll conducted this year.
Strong support for Ukraine
A poll commissioned by a Republican super PAC in February found that 60% of Republican voters in battleground districts and majorities of the same demographic in safe districts where Republicans will win continue to support providing military aid to Ukraine.
After all, the Reagan Doctrine remains self-evident, and it is equally clear that Biden’s rejection of it has led to death and destruction around the world.
To do anything other than tap into the wisdom of the majority of Americans who rebel against his subservient indiscretion would be political misconduct.
