Trump, Putin and Latitude
“A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” This quote, mistakenly attributed to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, reveals a key truth about human psychology. One life snuffed out is tangible and comprehensible. Many more, whether hundreds, thousands or millions, is unfathomable and our brains cannot compute the possibility. While modern humans live in a relatively harmonious period of human history, there are still too many conflicts and too much death.
With that sobering reality in mind, I don’t fault Trump for trying to end the Russo-Ukrainian War by giving wide latitude to Russia. To paraphrase his words, wouldn’t it make sense for the countries with the most nuclear weapons to get along? One must take care with nuclear powers. The efforts may not be pretty. I find Trump’s courtship to be nauseating, especially the red carpet treatment in Alaska. But we cannot chose the countries who have world-ending weapons. You may have to flatter to avoid death and destruction. If flattering a dictator speeds up ending the carnage in Ukraine, so be it.
On the other hand, flattery can lead to acquiescence. Russia has violated several agreements with Ukraine before. Putin views the downfall of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and wants to resurrect it or imperial Russia through acquiring independent countries that used to be Russian territory. Only death will stop him. Ukraine has to know that the USA and the West has to their back or there’ll be another war in a handful of years.
I connect more with Ukraine than other besieged parts of the globe because of my heritage. My maternal great-grandparents were Czech and left Europe before World War I. When I encounter headlines announcing drone strikes and exploded bridges, I think: what if my great-grandparents had not left? My grandmother spoke Czech but I never took the opportunity to learn it prior to her passing. By standing with Ukraine, I support a distant Slavic cousin and distant relatives who fight for independence.
By ending wars rather than start them, Trump aims to deliver on a campaign promise. A decade ago, Trump attacked the Iraq War to Jeb Bush’s face. Trump thought it and all its casualties (mostly born by Iraqis) could have been and should have been avoided. Shortly after being elected in 2016, he told commentator Bill O’Reilly that the U.S. had plenty of ‘killers’ around. Trump seemed to acknowledge the USA’s mistakes, which our politicians have not always done. His obsession with obtaining the Nobel Peace Prize appears to be a combination of a desire to save lives and feed his massive ego.
As a world superpower, the United States has to be extremely judicious when it chooses war. But it’s clear that Russia, under Putin’s leadership, has little interest in peace unless it is on its terms. As I rhymed in “After The Alaska Summit,” the Biden administration seemed to understand this, avoided negotiations and sought to bring a weakened Russia to the negotiating table.
As Trump is invested in solving the Russo-Ukraine conflict, he has behaved the opposite with some of our allies. To me, his rhetoric towards Canada and Denmark has been particularly alarming. Perhaps the whole ‘Canada as the 51st state’ schtick can be dismissed as a negotiating tactic over tariffs, but the focus over Greenland is something else. This past week, it was claimed that the US is engaging in a covert campaign to separate Greenland from Denmark. As Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated back in the spring, “you cannot annex another country.” World War II should have taught us all that much.
Both the Kingdom of Denmark and the autonomous province of Greenland have rejected the Trump administration’s offers to become part of the US. Trump and his underlings aren’t taking no for an answer. How far will they go to get what they want? If countries are unable to govern themselves, then what do we have left? A return to ‘might is right, survival of the fittest’ politics?
In matters domestic, Trump has stated that he will deploy the National Guard in ‘crime-ridden’ cities like Chicago and Baltimore. 4 out of 5 Americans agree that crime is a ‘serious’ problem in big cities, so Trump has many on his side. Nevertheless, our government is based on federalism: a division of power between D.C. and the states. If Chicago or Baltimore don’t want your help, how can you justify forcing it upon them?
These questions may have already been answered. For better or worse, Trump disregards limits left and right. He repeatedly argued that he won in 2020, tried to get Mike Pence to overturn it, wears a hat that boldly proclaims ‘Trump Was Right About Everything!’, sells Trump 2028 hats for $50, viciously attacks the independent Federal Reserve, threatens investigations against critics and his FBI raids the homes of former officials.
The American people wanted something different, a wrecking ball to contemporary politics. Trump has delivered and then some.
Trump’s approach to Putin has inspired this question: how much latitude does he get?
Sometimes, the cure is worse than the disease.