Can You Say, 'Sudetenland'
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
To call President Donald Trump’s ambush of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky a national embarrassment is vastly understating the severity of the episode.
To take it one step farther, it defied the court of a well-mannered man. You don’t bring a visitor into your home and then humiliate him. Trump, as always, showed no class.
Only a fool would accuse Ukraine of starting the war with Russia when evidence to the contrary is clear and incontrovertible. Russia and President Vladimir Putin are the aggressors, no matter what Trump and his brainwashed troop of followers say.
Trump urged Zelensky to seek a truce and allow Russia to keep the area it has now conquered. That’s like saying if Russia invaded the United States and conquered New York and Pennsylvania, we’d turn over those states to Putin just to stop the shooting.
Have we learned nothing from World War II? At Munich in 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed a pact with Adolph Hitler to allow the Nazis to keep the Sudetenland, which they had taken by force.
It was hoped that concession would stop further bloodshed, but it only emboldened the German dictator. Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive, as was the case with Hitler.
Veteran reporters who have covered the White House for decades agree that they have never seen such a lack of manners and decorum in the Oval Office, especially with a room full of media. Trump (and Vice President J. D. Vance) apparently wanted to show the world what a tough guy he is. What he showed them was a serious character flaw – the fact that he is a bully.
While there is no Oval Office precedent for Trump’s tirade, there is one historically significant incident that begs comparison. In November 1940, Hitler lit into Russian envoy Vyacheslav Molotov (in the German dictator’s office) in much the same manner. That outburst, too, concerned mineral rights. History does repeat itself.
Is America so arrogant that we demand half of Ukraine’s mineral rights for our help? That’s like finding a drowning man and saying, “If you want me to save you, sign over half your money.” You help because help is needed.
Ukraine is a strategic country, the door, so to speak, between Russia and Europe. If Putin gets this conquest, where will he go next? In 1938 the world said Hitler would stop at the Sudetenland. The world was wrong.
It almost seems that Trump wants to help Putin, which is absolutely contrary to America’s security. Even more confusing is the fact that many of Trump’s loyal followers, seem ready to give Ukraine to Russia. Of these, many are veterans who faced Russian made guns and aircraft during the Vietnam War. Now they want to just give Russia what it wants?
Trump’s abandonment of Ukraine gives our other European allies a clear indication that America can no longer be trusted. Trump followers say that’s okay, that we don’t need anyone because we are the greatest country in the world.
So said the citizens of Rome and a host of other dominant civilizations. They lost world support and they fell. After World War I Americans demanded isolationism. Then came Hitler and Pearl Harbor and we needed our friends.
But abandonment was predictable. In fact, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, I wrote a column saying that we were gung-ho then, but support would fade in time. Now our president and his followers are ready to throw that country to the dogs.
As for accusing Zelensky of starting World War III, last week’s Oval Office tirade makes one wonder how safe the world really is with a loose cannon like Trump in charge of the nuclear launch codes.
And with Trump selecting his own White House media representatives, one begins to wonder when those of us journalists who question his diplomacy and his tactics will start disappearing from the landscape – permanently.
We are living in uneasy times. The scope of the country and the world has changed dramatically in a period of six weeks, and not for the better.
Trump is alienating our allies – from Canada to Denmark – one by one, and last week’s Zelensky tirade has shown the world that we do not have their backs, that we don’t stand together. America stands only for herself.
We threaten our allies with tariffs, we abandon a friend in trouble, and we kiss Vladimir Putin’s boots.
Pardon me, but that does not seem a logical route to make America great. It sounds more like the road to disaster.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”
Rivals any commentary written anywhere. Bravo Mr. Johnston.
One of your best, Mr. Johnston.