Commentary by Will Wood: Who are you and what did you do with the Republicans?
Has anyone else been wondering who replaced so many of the Republicans in Washington with these imposters?
After World War II, the threat of the USSR expanding into a war-weakened Europe was so significant that Dwight Eisenhower spent two years trying to bolster support in Europe for the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Eisenhower — a Republican who later went on to be one of our greatest presidents — served as NATO’s first Supreme Allied Commander.
Later, President Ronald Reagan relied on NATO to help consign Marxism-Leninism to the ash-heap of history. When I think of the lengths to which Reagan went to dismantle the Soviet Union, the sky was the limit. No peacetime president before him increased the deficit more. Even while Reagan was slashing social programs, he was ratcheting up defense spending in a very conspicuous arms race with the sole objective of bankrupting the Soviets, and NATO was Reagan’s favorite collaborator.
George W. Bush partnered with our NATO allies when they invoked NATO’s Article 5 (which says that an attack on one member will be considered an attack on all members). NATO sent their own troops and equipment to fight alongside us in Afghanistan after the September 11th attacks.
Being a leader in NATO and taking a hard line against Russian imperialism were a cornerstone of what the GOP stood for not too long ago.
Flash forward to January 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin massed over 125,000 military personnel along the Ukrainian border. Putin — clever man that he is — said that these troops and the ships he was sending into the Black Sea were just part of an exercise.
When President Biden began publicly warning of a Russian invasion, the reaction across the political spectrum was the equivalent of raising a single eyebrow: Scare quotes were used. Biden’s grasp on world affairs was questioned. His mental acuity was scrutinized (some things never change). Political cartoons were inked. If I am being honest, even I was skeptical. How could Putin hope to pull this off? It’s 2022, not 1939. You can’t just invade another country.
Then Putin ordered his illegal invasion without even bothering to propose a flimsy premise.
Unsurprisingly, Biden did not waste any time saying, “I told you so,” instead he quietly used his energies to unite European nations in rallying to Ukraine’s aid. We probably did too little.
When I was in high school, a different authoritarian massed troops at his neighbor’s border and then rolled in. The country being invaded requested assistance from the UN, and the US led the prosecution of one of the most lopsided wars in history. Forty-three days later, Desert Storm was over, and the world’s fourth largest military was reduced to a far-flung collection of shattered fragments slowly eroding in the desert.
It is 100% clear to me that Ukraine has deserved our aid at least as much as Kuwait did. It is also clear to me that as the war drags on, our national support for it will only continue to dwindle. Putin believes we are weak, that we lack resolve, and he is counting on our fatigue. I am shocked so many Americans are willing to oblige him.
Meanwhile, we are experiencing whiplash as the heirs to Reagan’s party flipflop. First, it’s full-throated support of defending Ukraine against Reagan’s old adversary. Then it’s only supporting Ukraine if we also take drastic measures to address the US/Mexico border. Next, on the eve of achieving that, they pull the plug on a deal that they chiefly authored. Doubling back, they insisted that a bill providing aid to Ukraine be presented on the floor in a manner that gave them the right to try to add additional measures that do include US/Mexico border policies.
What a roller-coaster.
I know I am not alone on either side of the political divide in suggesting that if we believe that Russia’s illegal invasion of its neighbor is something we should address, if preserving our role as a global leader is important to not only our identity but our own preservation, then we should address the invasion in a straight-forward and decisive manner.
But former president (and third-time-but-still-no-charm candidate) Donald Trump is suggesting not only that NATO is dispensable but that Russia can take whatever countries it wants. What’s worse, Trump seems to have convinced a surprisingly large portion of GOP leaders in Washington that dereliction is somehow the better part of valor.
Will Wood is a small business owner, veteran, and half-decent runner. He lives, works, and writes in West Chester.
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