One of Donald Trump’s first actions upon his restoration was to put a bronze bust of Sir Winston Churchill back on display in the Oval Office. So the great man glowered down on Friday when the US President tried to humiliate the leader who – more than anyone in my lifetime – has donned his mantle of indefatigable wartime defiance.
Yet it is impossible to imagine Franklin Roosevelt sneering at Churchill for wearing his trademark boiler suit on a visit to the White House, let alone telling him to trust Adolf Hitler while trying to bully him into a peace deal that left one-fifth of our nation in Nazi hands without any security guarantees to deter fresh attacks.
Truly, it was a date that will live in infamy – as Roosevelt once said about another dark day for America. There sat the hectoring US President, who tried to usurp democracy, lecturing Ukraine’s leader – who stood bravely resolute in defence of freedom – on the need for his peace deal.
He told Volodymyr Zelensky to trust deceitful Vladimir Putin, then complained about his visitor’s loathing for Russia, a nation run by war criminals who ripped apart his country. “It feels so unreal,” texted one friend from Kyiv, comparing her numbing sense of shock at seeing this betrayal to the day of the full-scale invasion three years ago.
Trump’s appalling sidekick JD Vance, who has said he does not care what happens to Ukraine, behaved even worse. Yet that horror show – which as Trump said rightly, made great, if toe-curling, television – was not last week’s most disturbing display of Washington “diplomacy”.
It was even more sickening to see the US stand with Russia at the United Nations, backed by Belarus and North Korea, to resist condemnation of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. Even China abstained.
How much clearer can this grotesque American President be in his support for Putin, his contempt for Ukraine, and his dislike of Europe, as he shreds the slightest pretence of US moral leadership?
One cafe in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro instantly started serving a “Smash Trump” breakfast with a knob of butter in shape of his head. Zelensky, who remained remarkably dignified, is left in a pickle. If he ends up with a decent peace deal, or enough funds to keep the war machine running, those events solidify his wartime leadership. But if he fails to find cash and the front starts collapsing, the public mood in his battered, bloodstained and weary nation could turn on him very fast.
The events were depressing for those of us who clung to the belief that the US, for all its faults, was driven by ideals of democracy. Now, it is in the hands of an insecure egotist demanding loyalty to his gang of hustlers as he tries to grab untrammelled domestic powers, bully foreign friends and cosy up to despots.Trump views the planet as a playground for strong men – and there are increasingly uncomfortable parallels with Russia’s regime in how he sees the world, spreads disinformation, and lets oligarchs despoil the state
There are also growing fears in Washington that his acolytes might try to change the Constitution so he can run for a third term – a tactic frequently used by dictators, including Putin.
Britain and Europe must accept a shocking new reality: the US cannot be trusted as an ally and Nato has been neutered at a time when Russia – backed by the world’s nastiest dictatorships – is on the rampage with cyber-attacks, sabotage and spreading of disinformation across the West.
Moscow increasingly hires hooligans to help: note recent reports of Russian-linked Telegram channels offering cash for attacks on British mosques and Muslims.
Our enemy is being aided by the cabal in control of the world’s most powerful nation, whether it is the boss parroting Putin’s propaganda or his aides boosting the pro-Moscow far-right. No wonder the Kremlin is purring.
What can we do? First, everything possible to assist Ukraine since it is on the front line of our continent’s struggle for democracy. I would argue to send troops to assist air defence in the west of the country from Russian drones and missiles, which would free more Ukrainian forces for the battlefront – along with offering an army of civilian engineers to help repair bombed power systems.
Certainly, Europe must find far more cash and weapons – and shame nations such as Ireland, Italy and Spain who fail to match supportive words with sufficient financial or military aid. Note, however, that Britain, France and Germany are not in the top 10 donors in terms of percentage of GDP, giving four times less proportionately than the most generous nations
Britain is signing a £2.26bn loan agreement with Kyiv using frozen Russian cash to make weapons. Good. Yet £300bn sits in Europe’s financial systems, which should be handed to Ukraine as Moscow’s reparations for such destruction.
Domestically, we must ramp up defence spending far beyond the 2.5 per cent of national income announced last week, following Poland’s lead to spend almost double this sum, even if it means slaughtering more sacred cows to find funding. Then rapidly modernise our Armed Forces, learning from the fast-evolving battlefields of Ukraine, while sorting out dismal defence procurement processes.
It will take at least a decade to enable Europe to be ready to stand alone. Some of us have warned about Russia’s threat since the theft of Crimea 11 years ago, while neighbouring states never held any illusions of its imperial ambitions.Europe can show distaste now for Trump’s antics and stop stroking his ego. But the key is to remain ruthlessly focused on aiding Kyiv – which needs bread, guns and money more than virtue-signalling on social media – and guarding our own security.
It is beyond doubt that the President of the nation that was our closest ally for decades is now unpredictable, untrustworthy and pandering to our continent’s most destructive enemy.
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