If the folks of Independence, Mo., felt the ground shift this past Wednesday, it might have been former U.S. President Harry Truman turning over in his grave. That’s because Vice-President JD Vance, on orders from President Trump, outlined plans for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that called for Ukraine to concede almost 20% of its land to Russia, and agree to a prohibition to becoming part of the NATO alliance.

In short, in one of the weakest and most embarrassing displays of American capitulation, the Trump administration caved to Russia’s demands on all fronts. Moreover, Trump admitted to the world that America — at least under his administration — was no longer willing to help defend free nations against the aggression of dictators.

ANGELO LYNN

And this after baselessly proclaiming in the presidential campaign that he would forge a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Day One, with baseless pledges that it would be fair to both sides. And even more recently, after labeling a Russian bombing that killed 34 Ukrainians as “horrible”, and suggesting he may put sanctions on President Vladimir Putin for such atrocities, he did nothing to Putin except give him everything he wanted and laid the foundation for Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine.

It’s as shameful as it is unnecessary.

Since the end of WWII, America and its democratic allies have mostly been successful in preventing the conquest of sovereign territories by invading armies whose intent was to occupy that land as their own. The exception was China’s invasion of Tibet in 1950 and its subsequent occupation, and, arguably, North Vietnam’s war with South Vietnam and its subsequent takeover. Other nations have witnessed invading armies — Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Korea — but mainly for regime change or to put down revolutions, but not to take over and occupy.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and its invasion of Crimea in February 2014, is not just an outlier that violates international law, but a throwback to a world centuries ago in which stronger nations believed they were entitled to rule over weaker neighbors.

President Joe Biden’s strong support of Ukraine in helping that country fend off Russia’s superior might during the past three years, and his ability to rally European and world support to Ukraine’s side, showed promise to stave off Russia’s aggression and push Russia back to its borders, with the hope that Ukraine would one day partner with the NATO alliance — had only Trump stayed the course.

That result, after all, would have conformed with the thrust of America’s foreign policy since the onset of the Truman Doctrine in 1947. That doctrine recognized that global affairs did have significant impacts on America’s national security, and that containing the spread of communism (mainly through Russian and Chinese aggression) was a national interest. In 1948, a Republican-led Congress went a step further by approving the Marshall Plan, a massive financial aid package to help rebuild war-torn Europe and reinforce stable democratic governments. A year later, the Truman administration designed and enacted NATO — a peacetime military alliance of Western democracies designed to prevent the expansion of Soviet power westward into Europe. It’s been one of the most successful military alliances ever established and one of the reasons many scholars consider Truman one of the 10 most influential American presidents.

Trump’s decision to turn America’s back on Ukraine, and abandon our European allies in that fight against Russia’s dictatorial aggression, will be another black mark on Trump’s already disastrous second term. And it goes against everything America’s foreign policy has worked toward these past 80 years.

— Angelo Lynn