America First

A sincere, deeply concerned friend of mine asked, by e-mail, for my advice on and assistance in launching a last-minute campaign to forestall the incoming administration's abandonment of Ukraine. The idea is to advertise and use social media networks to position Ukraine as "Good" in a fundamentalist Christian way, i.e., as having voluntarily given up their nuclear arsenal in the name of Peace; as having faith in the protective guarantees of the Budapest Memoranda signed both by the Russian Federation and the United States; and as being an innocent victim of Vladmir Putin, the "Evil" in this scenario. The hope is to gin up an irresistible tide of public demand for continued support of Ukraine.

Here is how I replied:

"I admire your zeal but do not share your confidence that such a campaign could be funded and launched before inauguration, nor that it would alter Vance's, Trump's, Carlson's, and Bannon's determination to see Putin prevail. There are too many other fights in the offing. I would rather try to embolden Republican Senators to withstand the contemptuous appointments being made. By contemptuous, I mean that Trump and his cohort are intentionally expressing their contempt for our system of governance, and especially for the Republican Party he supposedly leads, by nominating such patently unacceptable people to positions of power.

I would rather see you turn your passion domestically to stiffen the spine of Republican Senators to resist this radical emasculation of and insult to the Legislative Branch. They intend to subordinate it to the Executive Branch; the Judicial Branch is already sawn half through. 

My other reaction is that we have had enough of Evangelism and Christian Fundamentalism, most of which has been suborned to support the radicals. Our first priority, I believe, must be for pragmatic patriots of whatever creed to rally for the US for we have more at risk here at home than overseas. As horrible as it would be to see Putin prevail in Central Europe, it would be much worse to see Trump, Bannon, Vance, Carlson and the Heritage Foundation radicals succeed." 

I believe that they seek to tear up the rules that assure fair and competitive capitalism; that they intend to destroy civil service; that they are willing to increase income and wealth inequality; that they seek to make blood and soil the entree to citizenship; that they wish to muzzle dissent. 

In short, they wish to undermine our confidence in our democratic republican compact and in the institutions that have held us (somewhat) together for 240 years. 

(Amazing: it turns out I am the conservative here!)

If, Dear Reader, you disagree with me and want to support a Ukraine campaign, let me know and I will put you in touch with my friend. She is determined to proceed and has already begun fund-raising. Her view is that positioning Ukraine/Putin as Good/Evil will engage Christian Nationalists and Fundamentalists and force Trump's hand. She acknowledges that a domestically-focused campaign to embolden Senators is also needed, and proposes to undertake both.