I’m beginning to wonder if Reagan was right … in reverse. In 1962, he said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me.” Well, is the Republican Party leaving me?
No, I have no intention at this juncture of jettisoning the GOP. The other options are too horrible to contemplate. Me, a Democrat, the party of eco-madness and neo-Marxism? A Libertarian, or freedom gone amok? Green? You’ve got to be kidding. Independent? Kinda, but there still remains many sane voices in the GOP to reject abandoning ship.
One of those voices in the wilderness is Mitch McConnell. But sadly, he’s retiring. Yes, that Mitch McConnell, the one with the guts to tell the neo-isolationist and protectionist right to stuff it. The Majorie Taylor Greene/Matt Gaetz/J.D. Vance clown caucus in the party does not represent those who fondly remember Reagan and his legacy, as does Mitch McConnell. Strangely, the circus part of the party has come full circle in support of a thuggish enemy – Putin – and those who treat NATO like it is a mirage – Viktor Orban of Hungary. While history rhymes, it’s more than rhyming here. It’s a replay of 1930s Europe, complete with a revival of America First. McConnell knows it, and spoke up in the well of the Senate last Thursday (5/16) against some of the lunacy (see #1 below).
And I quote from McConnell as he strips away the illusions about Putin as anything other than an architect of a new Axis:
“This week, Putin is in Beijing, tending to what Russia and China have called a ‘friendship without limits.’ But last week, it was President Xi who took to the road. And notably, his warmest welcome was in Budapest, Hungary.”
Yes, he brought up Hungary. It seems to be a habit with Hungary to cozy up to thugs. The country allied with Germany in WWII. Orban is true to form. Quoting McConnell:
“Viktor Orbán’s government has cultivated the PRC as its top trading partner outside the EU. It has given Beijing sweeping law-enforcement authority to hunt dissidents on Hungarian soil. It was the first European country to join Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, which other European governments — like Prime Minister Meloni’s in Italy — have wisely decided to leave.”
From blocking the entry of Finland and Sweden in NATO and allowing the CCP to nestle its tentacles in his country to the detriment of others (the CCP’s 5G Huawei, etc.), Orban is bent on rhyming with the 1930s. Cavorting with clearly hostile hegemons is not what friends do, and aren’t deserving of angelic portrayals by patsies in American media and the simple-minded in office.
Why this sudden and mysterious affection for goons (Putin) and the disruptors (Orban) of a NATO alliance that has successfully shielded us from World War III in Europe? As for Hungary, frankly, most Americans couldn’t find the country on a map, or identify Orban, or care. Yet, lately, there has emerged a political/media industrial complex in the party built upon “no more foreign wars” and tariffs. You can bet that where this clown car’s radar-love is directed, the complex’s Tucker Carlson will show up to sing their hosannas. Oh, he already has, in Moscow and Budapest.
American fatigue from the Wars on Terror is understandable, but this astounding abandonment of international and moral responsibilities under the banner of the GOP? Now, that’s an amazing turn.
You can see the rigmarole starting when Trump came down the escalator in 2015. Trump, looking for political leverage against Jeb Bush in the party primary, bashed not only Jeb, but his brother, George. The “forever wars” chant entered the party bloodstream to be picked up by kooks. His breathtaking win in 2016 sent shockwaves and a green light to the easily deranged. It was more than policies. It was an implicit sanction for brusque presentation, personality, and policies. Aping Trump is now a fad. Watch Kerry Lake, Arizona GOP Senate candidate.
Making the NATO countries “pay their fair share” didn’t stop there for the batty. For many of them, NATO made Putin an enemy. Sound familiar? Not too long ago, we were accused of making Ho Chi Minh an enemy. America First of 1940 said the same thing of Hitler. Remember? Expansion of NATO to cover countries in the maw of a Putin anxious to reconstitute “Russia’s near abroad” (Echoes of lebensraum?) is blamed for his tanks crossing borders and seeking solace in the arms of the grotesquely ambitious like Xi and the mullahs of Iran. And the Anglo-French alliance of the 1930s unleashed the Wehrmacht. Right? Sounds like pretzel logic. Sounds like appeasement, the 1938 Munich Agreement (look it up).
Add in the Russia hoax of 2016-17 and the Democrats’ Trump impeachment soap operas, which incorporated Ukraine into the sordid tale, and we have the preternaturally disposed thug-lovers in the party leaping into Putin’s arms and assisting his conquest of Ukraine through abandonment and betrayal. On the heels of Biden’s bugout from Afghanistan, who would want to be dependent on us? Israel, are you listening?
The inauspicious nexus of war fatigue and Trump couldn’t come at a worse time. Are Americans really prepared for the blowback? Right now, the well-balanced in the party are rudderless. Too many in the party are enchanted by almost anything that oozes out of Trump’s mouth.
One thing that dribbled out is his promise to end the Ukraine War in 24 hours (see #3 below). How? A Ukraine surrender. Think this thing through. The showman of the “art of the deal” would threaten both Zelensky and Putin, as if there’s a moral equivalence. To threaten Zelensky, he must be willing to cut off aid. For the Kremlin thug, he promises to arm Ukraine to the teeth, something that we should be doing anyway. He can’t do both at the same time.
The first is realistic since many in the Trump wing of the party are already chomping at the bit to have a Russian expeditionary force in Kyiv. As for the second, aid to Ukraine up to now hasn’t caused Putin to flinch one iota, especially if “boots on the ground” is off the table. He’s developed new alliances and markets for his fossil fuels. He’s resorted to human wave assaults, marking as conscripts nearly anyone on two legs, including the imprisoned, not shirking from blitz tactics targeting huge civilian targets. Cracks appear in NATO (Orban’s Hungary) and in America. He’s got every reason to stick it out. After all, Trump’s rise on the political scene – “no more forever wars” – and Biden’s bugout philosophy are testament to America’s longevity and dependability. In the end, “24 hours” is a Ukraine surrender.
This is what today’s America delivers: a nutty right enthralled by gorillas and, of course, a left in ecstasy of kumbaya. It’s the goofy right that bothers me the most. I expect it of the left. Reagan conservatism was the counterbalance of sanity. With the Reagan wing waxing, the right can no longer be trusted to keep the world from teetering into the arms of this new Axis. In fact, the batty on the right thinks that we can live without the world. Remember America First?
The nutter right can’t grasp the fact that for America to be first, allies must be a close second – allies both commercially and strategically. Allies reduce the burden on America’s sons and daughters. It’s a simple equation.
Republicans need to park the clown car.
RogerG
Sources:
1. You can read Mitch McConnell’s whole speech at “McConnell Remarks On Resisting Chinese Influence in NATO”, 5/16/2024, at https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/remarks/mcconnell-remarks-on-resisting-chinese-influence-in-nato
2. Thanks to Jay Nordlinger for bringing to my attention McConnell’s speech at https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/mcconnell-vs-orban/
3. “Trump describes how he could solve Russia-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours”, Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 7/16/2023, at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-describes-how-he-could-solve-russia-ukraine-conflict-24-hours