More than a few Americans believe that Vladimir Putin would have refrained from invading Ukraine if Donald Trump were still president.
There is ample evidence to suggest otherwise.
Trump successfully watered down a pro-Ukraine plank at the 2016 Republican Convention. A platform plank suggested assisting Ukraine by “providing lethal defensive weapons.” That plank changed at the direction of Trump’s campaign; the substitute plank removed mention of weapons.
The watering down of the Republican plank foreshadowed Trump’s impeachment for conditioning defensive weapons to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden.
Trump’s one-time campaign manager, Paul Manafort, made millions of dollars as a consultant to a Russian oligarch to manage pro-Putin candidates in Ukraine. According to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, “Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign chief from May to August 2016, spent nearly a decade as a consultant to Ukraine’s Party of Regions and its standard bearer, Viktor Yanukovych.” The Party of Regions opposed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.
Trump wanted to pull the United States out of NATO. Per The New York Times: “Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”
More recently, CNN documented Trump praising Putin’s incursion into Ukraine: “Trump told conservative radio hosts Buck Sexton and Clay Travis last week: ‘I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, “This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”’”
Recently, Mitt Romney said it is “unthinkable” and “almost treasonous for anyone who loves freedom to also support Russian President Vladimir Putin.” Senator Romney was referring to fellow Republicans.
Mike Anthony
Westhampton
Anthony is a former Southampton Town Democratic Party chair — Ed.
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